Trump’s suddenly prominent rear end draws merciless potshots: ‘Looks like some sort of contraption’

A video clip that shows President Donald Trump's rear end sparked vicious mockery over the state of the 80-year-old's health including the possibility that he’s suffering from incontinence. The recording was posted on social media by outgoing White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who said it memorialized the “beautiful impromptu moment” when the president interrupted a Friday speech in New York to embrace the parents of a 12-year-old boy killed by a stray bullet in the Bronx last month. But critics seized on the clip, shot from behind at the Nassau County Police Academy in Garden City, that showed an oddly-shaped bulge underneath the bottom of Trump's suit jacket.

It looks like he has some sort of contraption back there,” independent progressive journalist Aaron Rupar wrote on X. Lawyer and outspoken Trump critic George Conway responded by saying, “It depends” — apparently a scathing play on words involving a leading brand of adult diapers. Tennis legend Martina Navratilova was less oblique in response to a similar question posed by online commentator Brian Krassenstein, who asked about Trump: “Why does it look like there’s a box on his right cheek?” “That’s a big diaper, I think,” Navratilova wrote.

The White House, which appeared unaware of the online remarks, didn't immediately comment in response to a Monday inquiry from The Independent. Trump's health has been the subject of widespread speculation since bruises appeared on the back of his hands, swelling showed up around his ankles and an angry-looking red rash erupted on his neck at points in his second term. The White House has blamed the bruises on a daily aspirin regimen and repeated hand shaking, and attributed the ankle swelling to chronic venous insufficiency, a disease the Cleveland Clinic says causes blood to pool in the legs.

The president's personal physician, Dr. Sean Barbabella, has said the neck rash came from a “very common cream” that was being used as “preventative skin treatment” for an undisclosed ailment. Jonathan Reiner, the late Vice President Dick Cheney's cardiologist, wrote in The New York Times that Trump “has not looked well,” citing those symptoms, as well as multiple “episodes when it appears that he is struggling to stay awake.” “He’s also had advanced imaging performed for unclear reasons.

The public is again left to wonder whether the nation’s leader is OK,” Reiner wrote. An April poll also found that 55 percent of U.S. adults surveyed didn’t think Trump was in good enough physical health to effectively serve as president, up from 40 percent in January 2024. One social media user claimed to have watched “this video of Trump walking down the stairs about 400 times and I am convinced there is something SERIOUSLY wrong.

What the hell is going on with TRUMP’S RUMP???” Others sarcastically mused over the possibility that the president underwent cosmetic surgery known as a “Brazilian butt lift.” Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies