During a campaign rally in Manchester, New Hampshire on Thursday night, President Trump mocked the weight of one of the people in attendance, telling everyone in the crowd as well as everyone watching from home that the man has a “serious weight problem”, The Hill reported.
Since news broke of the president’s impromptu fat-shaming, reports have now claimed the man on the receiving end was actually one of Trump’s own supporters.
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Trump’s Make American Great Again rally featured the president making some rather big claims to his supporters.
Among those was the promise that a stock market crash is inevitable, unless he’s re-elected in 2020.
“Whether you love me or hate me, you have to vote for me,” he told the crowd, receiving uproarious applause in response.
In the middle of his rally, Trump’s speech was interrupted by protesters who started a commotion in the crowd.
According to The Daily Beast , one supporter stood up and grabbed a banner from the demonstrator’s hands.
Upon hearing the commotion, Trump turned away from the microphone and looked out into the audience, seemingly spotting the supporter and his banner and wrongly concluding he was looking at a protester.
It was at this point that he unleashed a flurry of insults at the overweight man.
“That guy has got a serious weight problem” Trump yelled. “Go home, get some exercise.”
As security escorted the man from the arena, Trump returned to his taunts and added, “Got a bigger problem than I do. Got a bigger problem than all of us. Now he goes home and his mom says, ‘What the hell have you just done?'”
Watch the full video below.
It has since been reported that the “protester” was, indeed, one of Trump’s supporters attempting to stop the protests.
In an interview with The Daily Beast , the organization behind the demonstration, IfNotNow, said Trump was fat-shaming a man who was in the midst of shoving the protesters after they had begun chanting, “Jews will not be used.”
The group were also holding banners which read, “Jews Against the Occupation.”
The taunted man has been identified by several media outlets as Trump supporter and veteran Frank Dawson.
Despite the insults thrown at him by the president, Dawson has said he feels no ill will towards Trump: “Everything’s good! I love the guy! He’s the best thing that ever happened to this country.”
A White House official has claimed Trump contacted Dawson after the rally and left a voicemail apologizing for his remarks and for the confusion.
However, the official later amended this statement , to say Trump thanked Dawson for his support, but did not apologize.
h/t: The Hill , The Daily Beast
