Donald Trump barely made it onto the stage before the internet decided the moment wasn’t going to go the way he planned.
He had only traveled a short distance from the White House for the event, yet the second he stepped into the spotlight, viewers fixated on something entirely different: his other hand. Folks were already used to the makeup-caked right hand, but now his left appeared bruised and unusually discolored, sparking a fresh wave of speculation before he could even finish accepting the award.
Trump stepped onstage on Dec. 5, where FIFA President Gianni Infantino presented him with the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize.
As the commander in chief reached out for a handshake on the Kennedy Center stage, cameras caught what many online immediately fixated on something more distracting: Trump’s noticeably swollen hand.
The moment the images hit social media, many online users were anticipating the president’s signature power grip. Trump avoided the handshake that has defined so many of his appearances with world leaders. For years, he has greeted people with a forceful pull-and-squeeze maneuver meant to assert control. But this time, the aggressive move was nowhere to be found.
“Not to mention Trump is being dominated in that handshake. His entire hand is being gripped like a parent pulling a toddler,” wrote one person on Threads. In contrast, another claimed, “This why he couldn’t give his aggressive handshake. His hand was too swollen!”
View on Threads
Viewers quickly linked the moment back to Trump’s signature pull-and-squeeze power handshake — a move he’s used for years to rattle rivals — while also noting how selectively he seems to deploy it. After their fiery online exchanges, many expected him to try it on New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. Instead, Trump offered a noticeably gentle grip and a soft pat that felt more ceremonial than controlling.
It echoed a past moment with Vladimir Putin, when the U.S. president appeared ready to assert himself before settling into an awkward, subdued handshake after the setup fizzled.
However, Getty images captured the two leaders shaking hands: Infantino reached with his left hand while Trump extended his right hand, exposing a bandage that Infantino’s thumb briefly touched.
“What’s wrong with Grandpa’s hand? What’s going on? What are they hiding?” asked one X user.
Notice they are not shaking hands, Infantino is gripping tRUMP’s swollen hand just above the wrist. pic.twitter.com/Hv2BeXCxCt
— DC Diva 🇺🇸 (@4diva63) December 6, 2025
One person zoomed in even further: “Right hand swollen to the size of a catcher’s mitt and a big old bandage on the back of it.”
Another cracked, “I noticed that too! Swollen piggy!” In the midst of people cracking more jokes about Trump’s appearance, some showed genuine concern about the president’s health.
Viewers even speculated that Trump could be dealing with edema — the medical term for fluid retention that causes swelling in the body’s tissues. One person warned, “Not a good sign if the swelling has moved from the feet and legs to the hands and belly,” while another zeroed in with a blunt question: “Is that for real? That looks like sausage stuffed inside a rubber glove! He’s really in bad shape!”
Eagle-eyed fans zoomed in yet again when Trump lifted the medal, noticing that his left hand now appeared bruised, sparking even more speculation.
“Is his left hand now puffy and showing a bruise?” one person asked, while another claimed, “Probably didn’t have any good veins left in the right hand so they had to switch it to the left.”
The reactions grew more frantic as one viewer begged, “What the hell is this?? Please be AI,” and another chimed in, “Both hands NOW?!! You can only poke a vein until you can’t. He had to change hands.” Someone else summed up the collective confusion: “Why tf not use a hidden vein on his arms?”
As the jokes and concerns piled up, users revived one of Trump’s oldest public sensitivities — the size of his hands.
The long-running storyline one of Trump’s oldest public sensitivities — the size of his hands returned instantly: Marco Rubio joking about his proportions, Mika Brzezinski’s “Made For Little Hands” cereal box, and Trump’s own defensive “Look at those hands! Are they small hands?” from his 2016 debate stage moment.
Strangely, almost no one even brought up the time Trump reposted a photo of himself praying on his knees — only for critics to drag the image for giving him six fingers. The overlap between old taunts and new swelling made the conversation impossible to quiet.
On Truth Social yesterday, Donald Trump shared a picture of himself praying with six fingers — a clear indication the image is AI-generated. pic.twitter.com/ZfA8ygkXem
— Bill McCarthy (@billdmccarthy) January 23, 2024
Even with Trump’s team insisting he is in “excellent health,” the scrutiny hasn’t slowed.
Videos of Trump’s wobbly walk — along with lingering questions about his posture, ankles, and overall gait — have been circulating for months. The FIFA moment simply added another close-up to an already growing tape. Jokes, theories, and Relentless zoom-ins of his swollen grip overshadowed the event, the prize, and everything else in the room. All anyone could talk about was the power handshake he didn’t give.
