What does President Donald Trump have in common with drag queens? A lot, some say.
”There’s a lot you can call Donald Trump. No one has ever called him feminine,” MAGA podcaster Charlie Kirk announced to a round of laughter from his audience.
The internet, however, says otherwise.
Kirk’s soundbite has gone viral on social media as X users frame Trump’s made-for-TV antics as evidence of his “feminine” tendencies.
“Literally the best definition I saw for Trump’s personality is ‘drag queen for straight men,’” one user wrote on X in response to the clip.
“Trump not feminine? He’s catty, queeny and bitchy (and sometimes outright c---y) and wants a glittery ballroom dripping in gold,” chimed in another. “And that’s not even touching on his bizarre obsession with his clothes, hair and makeup.”
“He loves musical theater and interior design. He openly denigrates weightlifting specifically and non-golf exercise generally as dumb, meathead behavior. He’s been talking ad nauseam about building a ballroom lately,” another observed.
“He’s the only man his age in America who knows what’s being discussed every day on ‘The View,’” wrote another user. “There’s nothing wrong with it, but he has a lot of traditionally feminine qualities.”
While Kirk maintains that Trump is “ultra masculine” because he’s associated with a “red tie, big plane, super rich, supermodel wife,” netizens have drawn attention to Trump’s obsession with appearances, gilded decor, experimentation with makeup, and his love for stirring drama, spreading rumors, and busting moves. Some have found it too tempting to compare Trump’s gaudy ballroom-in-progress with camp drag balls. Trump did, after all, co-own the Miss Universe Organization.
Trump is also known for his love of musicals.
According to ex-White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, Trump would regularly demand that an aide—Grisham’s ex-boyfriend, whom he called his “music man”—play a song from Cats to soothe him. Trump loves Les Misérables, though recent evidence suggests Trump watches it for the vibes alone.
Other social media users are citing a 2016 study about masculine and feminine speaking styles from Jennifer Jones Gebhardt, a visiting assistant professor in the political science department at Loyola Marymount University. A chart from Gebhardt’s study ranks Trump ahead of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and former Rep. Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota when it comes to using “feminine” language.
The White House responded to the Daily Beast’s request for comment with an image of clown shoes alongside the text, “Your shoes madam.”
The White House has also recently gone on a spree of posting oddly camp memes.
On Friday, the White House posted a picture of Trump pecking Melania on the cheek with the caption, “200 days, endless slays.” The slang word slay originated in ’80s ballroom culture and remains a pet word in LGBTQ+ culture.
Maybe next year, the anti-Trump protesters will swap their “No Kings” chants for “Yas Queen!”
