Donald Trump always seems to have a story ready — and somehow, the details are often just wild enough to sound almost too good to be true.
This time, the 80-year-old president took the stage and launched into another colorful anecdote about a so-called “friend,” complete with the kind of dramatic setup and punchline that has become a familiar feature of his speeches.
Trump has repeatedly turned unnamed friends, private conversations and supposedly personal encounters into larger-than-life stories while making his point, and this one was no different.
As Trump continued, it became clear this was the same obese friend he has repeatedly referenced.
The “fat drug” remains a recurring punchline in the 80-year-old’s speeches on pharmaceutical costs, despite shock about his own appearance.
A White House medical report from May listed Trump’s weight at 238 pounds — up 14 pounds from the 224 pounds recorded in his April 2025 physical.
The 80-year-old president weighed 215 pounds in 2023 when he was booked into the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia.
Critics suspect age has shaved inches off his height, despite White House medical reports listing him at 6 feet 3 inches.
Photos of Trump next to people like his sons Don Jr. and Eric Trump contradict the tall tale. His bloated appearance in recent months, though, has not been addressed.
Yet there is no denying that Trump’s physique is huskier in 2026 than in previous years.
Unflattering camera angles make his backside look padded. Speculation suggests the added curves were due to a ventricular assist device, or LVAD. The device treats heart failure and helps pump blood from the heart’s lower chambers to the rest of the body, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Trump’s suit jackets leave little slack around the arms. Not to mention, the buttons look stretched, often appearing one deep breath from popping.
Comments like “that button is holding on for dear life” have become as common as jokes about Trump’s orange complexion.
However, the former real estate developer overlooks his own physical flaws, choosing instead to mock others.
View on Threads
Even a Rose Garden dinner with Republicans ahead of the midterms couldn’t keep Trump from his ego-soothing mud-throwing.
Viewers know the story well because Trump often deploys it as part of his great “weave” of jumbled thoughts. The Sept. 2 gathering at the White House was no different.
“A friend of mine, very heavy — he’s a very obese person,” he began, recounting how he told the fella, “‘You’re an extremely obese person.’ But he’s a brilliant guy. He’s a Wall Street guy. He’s a brutal man. Smart as hell, but he’s got a serious weight problem.”
By most accounts, the person Trump keeps describing sounds a lot like himself.
“He called me, and he’s from New York; he’s one of the top guys on Wall Street, begging me cause I told the story a couple of times, not to mention his name because I’ll destroy his reputation,” Trump continued.
The showman took a moment to gloat before the crowd. “He used to call me Donnie, now he calls me President… I’m shocked he does that actually. That shows respect,” said Trump.
He said his pal paid $80 for Ozempic abroad but over $1,300 in New York for the prescription.
Instead of offering his friend helpful advice, the POTUS eventually unleashed his most savage comment.
“I said, ‘Are you taking this stuff? It’s not working. You look like s—t,’” Trump remarked.
The point of the story was to emphasize how the “fat friend” inspired him to broker a deal to cut costs on pharmaceuticals.
View on Threads
A heckler’s reaction to his recycled story read, “Obese Piggy as usual is looking in the mirror when he makes these statements. Projection, projection, projection. Right Piggy?” Another asked, “What kind of “friend” is this?”
A third person snapped, “The irony of him saying someone looks like s—t.”
Folks online reminded him that his recent and noticeable weight gain is visible in nearly every White House photo.
“Omg. Trump, you are getting fatter by the day. Shut the h—l up,” blasted one critic.
The Republican politician previously admitted that he could use a little help shedding extra weight. “I probably should,” he told The New York Times in January.
Depending on Trump’s BMI, his hefty weigh-in either places him in the overweight or obese category.
Reports emerged in June that Eli Lilly granted “compassionate use” of its experimental obesity drug, retatrutide, to a 79-year-old patient.
Internet sleuths deduced that the person was well-connected, likely facing other health issues and decided it had to be Trump.
The administration hit back at the assumptions with “No, it wasn’t President Trump — and you people are truly sick and deranged.”
Trump’s mean streak ultimately derailed the gathering with lawmakers.
Instead of celebrating an agreement to lower prescription drug costs, he emboldened people to renew scrutiny of his appearance.
