In early January, President Trump had a physical exam at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, a periodic rite for US presidents in the modern era. The results were made public a few days later, with fevered public interest from popular media and television commentators. Was the President, with a height/weight ratio that put his BMI just a shade below the cutoff for obesity, having his doctor lie about his weight to avoid a diagnosis? Images of 6?3?, 239-pound men circulated social media, asking readers to make the comparison between the President’s physique and those of athletes, celebrities, and others with supposedly similar measurements.
All of this begs an important question, and it’s not “is the President’s team misrepresenting his measurements?” People, even leaders, are mostly expected to lie about their weight. It’s also not, “is the President “healthy?” All evidence indicates that BMI alone is a very poor predictor of health or longevity. Rather, the key question is why do we, as a public, invest so much meaning in this data? Why do these numbers- height, weight, BMI- and the various, changing cutoff points that those data indicate — overweight, obese, and so forth — dominate news cycles, and fascinate media? In short, why is it that some Americans, from all corners of society, thrill to the news of the President’s weight?
No doubt some of the most recent opining comes from President Trump’s own penchant to engage in what has become known as “fat-shaming,” demonstrating time and again that he invests significant meaning in the weight and appearance of others. This hypocrisy, especially in light of repeated reports of the President’s fast food binges, makes for great clickbait. It is not noble, but it can be satisfying to see the bully get bullied.
Yet this goes much deeper than the current occupant of the Oval Office and in fact cuts right to the heart of powerful, longstanding cultural ideas about American masculinity and leadership. In my scholarly work, I have traced this vicarious interest in a President’s weight to three major developments, each from around the turn of the last century.