Yall After reading about the evacuation at Davos due to a bad smell – that some people were jokingly attributing to Trump – I ended up doing a deep dive on if the president actually smells bad. And youll never guess what I found out.
A lot of people have said he smells bad. Like, a lot.
Let me back up. Today at the World Economic Forum, right after Trump’s unhinged hour-long speech about Iceland – sorry, Greenland – the Congress Center was evacuated. Emergency crews rushed in. Attendees were coughing. There was, according to reporters on the ground, an unusual smell in the air.
It was apparently a fire at a nearby hotel. But the jokes wrote themselves. Because heres the thing: the Trump smells discourse has been brewing for years, and I had somehow missed the whole thing.
Adam Kinzinger – Republican congressman, Trump critic, man who has been in the same room as the president multiple times – went on Jimmy Kimmel and described Trump’s scent as armpits, ketchup, makeup and a little butt. That’s a direct quote. He said youd definitely wouldn’t want to bottle it up and wear Trump cologne. He told people to wear a mask around the president. Not for COVID. For the smell.
Kathy Griffin, who spent time with Trump on The Apprentice, told Mary Trump – yes, that Mary Trump – that her uncle has a distinct smell that doesn’t get enough press. She described it as body odor with kind of like scented makeup products.
Last week, Trump visited a Ford factory in Michigan. According to a post from Lincoln Square that went viral, workers described his body odor as like bad breath mixed with feces – I can’t describe it, but Ill never forget it.
And something else I didn’t know is that the man sells his own cologne. It’s called Victory 47. He gave a bottle to the Syrian president in November. It sold out. Meanwhile, multiple people who have actually been in rooms with him keep saying he smells like expired deli meat wrapped in bronzer.
Theres a whole conspiracy theory ecosystem around this. People analyze photos of world leaders grimacing near Trump. There are supercuts of people appearing to recoil. Melania was asked if her husband smells bad and reportedly laughed for 19 seconds straight without answering. I cannot verify this but I want it to be true so badly.
Noel Casler, who worked on Celebrity Apprentice, has claimed for years that Trump wears adult diapers due to bowel control issues from decades of stimulant abuse. The campaign has never sued him. Make of that what you will.
Look. I don’t know if Donald Trump smells bad. I have not smelled Donald Trump. I am simply reporting that a surprising number of people who have smelled Donald Trump say that he does, in fact, smell bad. And that when a mystery odor evacuated Davos today, the first instinct of a non-trivial portion of the internet was did Trump do that?The man confused Iceland and Greenland four times in one speech. He told NATO they used to call him daddy. He threatened Denmark with we will remember. And somewhere in the back of everyones mind was apparently the question: does he also smell like a gas station bathroom?I don’t have answers. I only have more questions. And a newfound appreciation for Adam Kinzingers commitment to olfactory journalism.
Anyway. That’s where I’ve been for the last two hours. Hope you’re having a normal one.