Fans Zoom in on Close-Up of Trump’s Bunched-Up Look But The Real Story Is What’s Going on with His Feet

For a man who has spent decades branding himself as the ultimate symbol of wealth and polish, Donald Trump’s appearance at his fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago landed with a thud instead of a sparkle.

The event itself was anything but modest, pulling in at least $2.75 million for law enforcement and other charities under stage lights and gilded fixtures all over the room. Yet the host’s look told a different story — one that felt oddly out of step with the luxury setting he’s long used to sell his image.

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Trump’s black suit appeared rumpled and tired, with visible hanger lines and creases that made the outfit look less tailored and more forgotten in the back of a closet.

The fundraiser took place at Trump’s 2025 New Year’s Eve party, in which he was accompanied by first lady Melania, who wore a tight silver dress.

Threads observers didn’t miss it.

“The lines on his pants where the hanger was. This is the cheapest, laziest admin ever. And those look like booties,” one person wrote.

“Did his pants even get ironed? There are fold creases,” another added.

As the comments rolled in, the focus shifted downward, toward a detail that has quietly become a recurring point of fascination: Trump’s shoes and ankles.

“Them shoes is fried, dyed, and laid to the side,” one person wrote.

“His feet are so swollen his shoes are twisted!” another said.

“Even his ankles are rolling over in disgust,” someone joked.

Those remarks were fueled by close-up photos that circulated on Threads, where users zoomed in like forensic analysts.

The hard-bottom dress shoes appeared slanted outward, bent in ways that suggested more than normal wear. What might have passed unnoticed at a glance became the centerpiece of a viral dissection, with people circling bulges in the leather and pointing out how the soles seemed to fight against the weight above them.

The renewed scrutiny didn’t come out of nowhere.

It followed a separate viral image posted earlier showing a single black shoe with a strange horizontal line across the back, photographed on the rug inside Trump’s new Oval Office. That detail sent users speculating about hidden supports or inserts, especially since the shoe resembled pairs he has worn repeatedly in public.

Past images quickly resurfaced.

Photos from a Windsor Castle banquet with King Charles III were revisited, with viewers ignoring the royal pageantry to zero in on an ill-fitting shoe moment captured beside British royalty. Melania Trump’s elegant yellow gown earned praise, but the visual conversation online stayed fixed below Trump’s ankles.

The pattern resurfaced again during his late-October meeting with Asian dignitaries. It wasn’t the exchange of words that stood out, but what the cameras captured in the quiet moments.

Seated next to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Donald Trump drew fresh attention as his ankles appeared noticeably thick and swollen above the tops of his shoes, visible even through dark socks and a heavy suit. The contrast was striking: Ibrahim sat comfortably with his legs crossed, while Trump remained stiff, feet planted firmly on the floor, which drew even more attention to the swelling around his lower legs.

That visual contrast in these instances and with his New Year’s Eve outfit reignited discussion around Trump’s chronic venous insufficiency, a circulation condition the White House has acknowledged but rarely elaborates on.

As the oldest person ever sworn in as president, Trump has repeatedly insisted he remains in excellent health. But people with working eyes can see that he is age-appropriately wobbly and physically unfit.

And so his health and style came to play at Wednesday’s event.

Instead of projecting polish and control at his glitzy Mar-a-Lago New Year’s Eve fundraiser, Trump’s look did the opposite. The pants crease may have caught the eye first, but once fans zoomed in, the focus shifted to his twisted shoes and swollen ankles — details that quietly undercut the image of strength and perfect health his team continues to push.