Donald Trump returned to the limelight this weekend with a controversial appearance that had many speculating he suffered a bizarre wardrobe mishap.
Trump was speaking at the North Carolina GOP Convention, a highly anticipated appearance that came amid growing controversy over an ongoing vote audit in Arizona and conspiracy theories that Trump believes he could return to office. Others were waiting to see if Trump would announce plans to run for the White House again in 2023. Instead, the former president’s pants ended up being the hottest topic of discussion.
Trump’s Pants On Display
Trump’s rally delivered much of the drama that had been expected, with the former president repeating his unfounded claims of widespread fraud in the last election. He avoided any declarations about plans to run for the White House again, though didn’t shy away from taking shots at Joe Biden.
But it was Trump’s outfit that had most people talking. A video from the rally showed the former president on stage wearing a pair of pants that appeared to have no zipper in front. This led many to speculate that Trump had somehow put on his pants backward, and many took to social media to mock him.
Video May Have Been Doctored
The viral popularity of the video prompted many news outlets to dig deeper, and NYMag’s Intelligencer noted that the video may have been doctored, likely in order to cast doubt on Trump’s ability to dress himself. The report noted that there was plenty of unfounded speculation about what could have happened.
“It’s possible that people entertaining this theory made other leaps of logic and came up with more plausible reasons for him supposedly wearing his pants backward,” the report noted, adding that it may have been an attempt to “symbolize the need to reverse the results of the 2020 elections.”
Report Reveals Truth
The final answer on Trump’s pants came from the rumor-busting outlet Snopes. The fact-checker — which often called out Trump in the past for his falsehoods — found definitive proof that the former president did not wear his pants backward.
“The photographs and video above were taken at the 2021 Republican gathering in Greenville, North Carolina, on June 5,” the report noted. “Snopes looked through photographs taken at the event and published by the visual media company Getty Images that clearly show the former president on stage wearing pants with a zipper in the front.”
Critics Still Mock Trump
But the truth about the viral video didn’t reach all corners of the internet. Many still mocked Trump for the appearance, spreading the clip and claiming that he was wearing his pants incorrectly. Some speculated that the former president was trying to wear a baggy pair of pants to hide a diaper he was wearing underneath, which appeared to be an underhanded dig that connected to a viral story claiming that he had episodes of incontinence while on the set of The Apprentice.
