Donald Trump, 79, appeared in front of Republican lawmakers on Tuesday sporting what can only be described as pink hair—and the internet immediately lost its mind.
The president showed up to the former John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts (you know, the arts institution he recently slapped his own name on) for a House GOP retreat, where he proceeded to ramble through a familiar litany of grievances.
But forget the unhinged rants about Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro allegedly stealing his dance moves or complaints about news coverage of his declining health—the real story was the fluffy, pinkish mane on his head.
THE DETAILS: “Donald Trump is unwell & should be removed. And WHY IS HIS HAIR PINK TODAY?” one X user wrote, summing up the collective confusion.
Others weren’t shy with comparisons either: “Like a little old ladies’ blue rinse but pink,” one replied. Another post read: “Is it just me or does Trump’s hair look like ‘old lady pink’?”
It’s giving assisted living facility. It’s giving salon appointment gone wrong. It’s giving… exactly what Trump apparently wants.
OF COURSE: This hair situation isn’t new—it’s strategy.
Trump biographer Michael Wolff, host of the Inside Trump’s Head podcast, has previously told the Daily Beast that Trump’s signature hairdo is “by design” and all about grabbing maximum attention. “He looks that way because he thinks that’s an effective way to look,” Wolff said.
And Trump himself has apparently admitted as much. In Stormy Daniels’ 2019 book Full Disclosure, the porn star wrote that she asked Trump about his hair during their alleged 2006 relationship. His response? He knows it’s “ridiculous.”
“Every celebrity stylist” had offered to fix it, Trump allegedly told Daniels, but he refused. Why? “Everybody talks about it. It’s my thing. It’s my trademark,” he reportedly said. “Plus, if I let this person do it, it will just piss off all these other people.”
BOTTOM LINE: So here we are: the President of the United States showed up looking like he lost a bet at a cotton candy machine, and his base will probably call it brilliant branding.
The man who spends his time raging about Venezuelan dance moves and complaining about health coverage has figured out one thing: we’re all talking about his hair instead of, say, whatever authoritarian tendencies he was rambling about on that stage.
Classic Trump—distraction via absurdity. The pink hair might be new, but the playbook is exactly the same.