Trump Fat-Shamed a Supporter. It Went Just How You Would Imagine.

“Everything’s good. I love the guy.”

Preston Ehrler/Zuma

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President Donald Trump ridiculed a man’s weight at a Thursday night rally in Manchester, New Hampshire.

“That guy’s got a serious weight problem. Go home. Start exercising,” Trump said as protestors were being led out of the venue, according to the Associated Press. “Got a bigger problem than I do.”

But it turns out, the man Trump had thought was a protestor turned out to be a fan. After the rally, Frank Dawson identified himself as the subject of Trump’s taunts, and he’s surprisingly cool with the president—insults and all.

“Everything’s good. I love the guy,” Dawson told Fox News. “He’s the best thing that ever happened to this country.”

Trump rewarded his good-natured supporter with a phone call Friday morning in which he reportedly claimed he was actually berating someone else. Fat-shaming is clearly a valid line of attack for the president—as long as it’s directed at Democrats.

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Russian bots are impersonating us. Trump and his allies want to silence us. AI wants to (and does!) steal our content. The list goes on. But with 50 years of experience, we know we were built for this moment: We’re ready to keep diving deep and uncovering the truth, then getting that to you right here, completely accessible and never behind a paywall.

While our work is free to read, watch, and listen to online, it’s incredibly costly to make. Court documents, travel, research: It all adds up. Because we’re a nonprofit newsroom, we rely on reader support to fund our investigations. Will you stand with us in these extraordinary times, as headlines clamour for our attention and disinformation is rampant? We can’t get the truth out without you.

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