Donald Trump brought the Presidential Fitness Test, Federal physical assessment program for American childrenarchived for years, and to celebrate its relaunch he invited a group of kids to the White House. Photographs, smiles, cameras on. An opportunity designed to send a positive message to the country’s young people. Too bad the president of the United States found the way to make it unpleasant in a matter of seconds: with a free commentin front of everyone, addressing one girl of about ten years old who had just enthusiastically talked about his favorite sports.
Trump freezes the little girl: the height joke
The little girl responded enthusiastically: play volleyball and this summer he would try the soccer. Trump wasted no time: he immediately set his sights on the little girl’s height. «Can you spike a volleyball with your height? Do you jump a lot?” the president asked her. “Not much,” she admitted.
The presidential ruling was immediate: “Then maybe football could be better”. Said with a smile, of course. But that joke, in front of the cameras, to a little girl who had just shared her sporting dreams, has an aftertaste that is anything but funny.
An old vice, a new victim
Donald Trump has a history long and documented of comments on physical appearance, almost always aimed at women. This time he “calibrated” the tone for the age of the recipient, but the substance does not change: judging a body instead of encouraging a dream. Paradoxical for a president who had just launched a program designed to push young Americans to believe in their physical abilities. The little girl, at least, didn’t seem willing to give up. And perhaps this is precisely the most important detail of the whole story.
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