Trump’s bizarre fascination with male bodies sparks ‘gay dementia’ theory

President Donald Trump is out in the US nearly every day touring the country and speaking to his MAGA voter base before the midterm elections in a couple of weeks.

While the rallies are supposed to highlight the Republican candidates for Senate and House, some in states that are usually deep-red but are in danger of turning Democratic — make no mistake, these speeches and rallies are all about Trump.

And the topics are becoming weirder and more nonsensical. There is no better example than the fact that the president cannot stop praising other male bodies. That has some people on the internet diagnosing Trump with a brand-new disorder.

‘Big, strong, handsome’

Donald Trump has increasingly spent his rally appearances talking about how other men look. He has repeatedly praised military personnel as “big, strong, handsome soldiers.” But it does not just stop with Trump objectifying men in the military, as even his candidates get praise for their physical appearances from the president.

That happened at one of the rallies in Ohio where Republican candidate for Senate Jon Husted is up for reelection. Trump did not hold back on his praise for Husted. Without hesitation, he told the audience that he spent several moments admiring the former football player from behind. “I looked at his butt,” Trump announced to a laughing crowd in Youngstown.

Days later in Kentucky, the remarks grew even more specific. Trump told the crowd: “I examined his butt, and then I looked at his shoulders. I looked at his feet. I looked at his hand. I looked at his jawline.” He added that tapping the candidate on the shoulder felt “like a piece of steel.”

As a staff writer for The Atlantic and author Helen Lewis has pointed out, people on the internet have coupled Trump’s incoherent remarks alongside his new foray into being obsessed with male bodies and given Trump a new medical condition: Gay dementia.

Trump’s candidates need to look the part

Appearance has always carried serious weight in Trump’s orbit. He chose telegenic figures like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, calling him a person “right out of central casting,” and openly praised fighter pilots as “perfect specimens.” When speaking about Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, an openly gay man, Trump noted that “under that beautiful exterior is a killer.”

Yet those public critiques cut both ways. While Trump praised allies in Georgia as exceptionally handsome, he turned on Texas Republican Ken Paxton with brutal mockery.

“He may not be the best-looking guy I’ve ever seen,” Trump announced. Moments later, he tore into Paxton’s personal style, mocking everything from the candidate’s outfits to the tone of his voice.

Not the old Republican Party

Trump’s open lust for the looks and physique of men is an enormous break from the norms in the old Republican Party that is normally a staunch opponent of sexual minorities and sexual orientations.

It is a reflection of how Trump is immune to shame. This is also why this rhetoric will not work with anybody else in the GOP, as many of them are so insecure about their sexuality.

With less than two weeks left until the midterm elections, there is no telling how far Trump will take these talking points.

Here is a CNN montage of how many times over the past few years Trump has gushed over the attractiveness of men:

This article is made and published by Daniel Wolfram, who may have used AI in the preparation