Trump Asks If We Think He Looks Like Elvis

Photo: John Locher/AP

Donald Trump’s Truth Social is always weird. On any given day he’ll throw up more than a dozen posts and retweets featuring conspiracy theories, cherry-picked poll numbers, videos attacks his political opponents, endorsements of local political figures, and proclamations on random topics (the latest: “The Bud Light ad will go down as the WORST AD in history.”) Stare at his feed long enough and it all become a blur of impossible-to-follow MAGA insanity. But occasionally he posts something so weird that it stops you in your tracks, like this post from Saturday night in which Trump asked if we think he looks like Elvis Presley:

It does not seem this image was “going all over the place” anywhere other than Trump’s mind. Maybe Trump spotted it somewhere on Truth Social over the weekend, but it wasn’t viral on any larger social media platform until he posted it.

Trump regularly compares himself to significant historical figures, including Jesus, Nelson Mandela, and Abraham Lincoln (he’s described the 16th president as “a man that I’ve always competed against.”) And he’s been encouraging the idea that he’s the spitting-image of the “King of Rock and Roll” for years.

At a 2018 rally in Presley’s hometown of Tupelo, Mississippi, Trump claimed people have always pointed out that they look alike — though he’s not full of himself, of course.

“I shouldn’t say this. You’ll say I’m very conceited ’cause I’m not,” Trump said. “But other than the blonde hair, when I was growing up, they said I looked like Elvis. You see that? Can you believe it? I always considered that a great compliment.”

That same year Trump posthumously awarded Presley the Presidential Medal of Freedom, misquoting the famous term “Elvis has left the building” as “Elvis has left the house.”

Despite the flub, Trump does appear to be an Elvis fan. He’s featured his music at his rallies and had an Elvis impersonator perform at the Mar-a-Lago New Year’s Eve party.

So why did Trump decide to poll his followers on his purported resemblance to Elvis? Maybe the King’s adopted home of Las Vegas was on his mind because Nevada’s primary and caucus are coming up this week. Perhaps he was feeling a bit lonesome that night and decided to fish for compliments. Or maybe he’s just an incredibly odd guy. As President Joe Biden put it in a speech later on Saturday night, the 2024 race is “the weirdest campaign I’ve ever been engaged in.”