Donald Trump called out for mocking little girl during bizarre interaction
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Politics
Rhianna Benson
Featured Image Credit: Tom Brenner for The Washington Post via Getty Images/Pool
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Politics
President Trump has found himself in hot water once again, but this time it's after he poked fun at a young child.
Donald Trump invited several young athletes to the Oval Office on Tuesday (5 May) to celebrate the return of the Presidential Physical Fitness Award, which he recently revived as part of his plan to bring back a fitness test in schools.
Several athletes were also in attendance, including Bryson DeChambeau, Gary Player, Amani Oruwariye and Noah Syndergaard.
During the get-together, the 79-year-old focused his attention on one young girl, asking her which sports she likes to play.
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"I play volleyball, and then in the summer I’m trying to get into soccer," the child replies, shyly.
Surprisingly, however, Trump then put a slight downer on the conversation, pointing out that the girl might struggle to continue playing volleyball as she ages, given her rather petite size.
"And with your height, do you smash the ball, the volleyball. Do you get up high? Can you jump high?" he questioned the girl.
Hesitantly, she answered, 'Not very', to which the Republican leader quipped: "Soccer might be better."
After his remark was met with a roar of laughter from older attendees, Trump went on to add: "I’m just looking, I think she’d be a great soccer player."
Take a look here:
Despite the politician going on to tell the little one, 'That’s good. Good luck, OK?', he was subsequently subjected to mass criticism.
Footage of the strange interaction began circulating on social media, prompting backlash from those who accused Trump of quashing the girl's ambitions.
"Trump just mocked a little girl for being short, and stomped on her ambitions," one X user hit out.
Another wrote: "Maybe not everyone can be a volleyball player. Maybe suggesting an alternative isn’t the horror you think it is. When you’re little and wanted to be Troy Aikman, who deflected you to 'internet douchebag'?"
"Imagine someone told Ivanka she was too short to play a sport she loved. Trump would've lost his mind," a third alleged. "But for this little girl? Just another joke. Another audience to perform for. Another chance to remind everyone that he doesn't lift people up.
"He pushes them down to feel taller. That's not a leader. That's a bully."
Another continued: "The way my heart actually broke for her... kids should be told they can do anything, not that they’re 'too short' for their dreams. Literally so unnecessary."
In early 2025, Trump was asked during an interview with the New York Post if he had plans to kick Prince Harry out of the US amid ongoing questions about his immigration status.
"I don’t want to do that. I’ll leave him alone. He’s got enough problems with his wife," he said. "She’s terrible."
Ahead of a 2025 meeting in the Oval Office, the Ukrainian president wore a black, long-sleeved polo shirt featuring the Ukrainian trident - after which he'd vowed not to wear a suit until Russia's invasion of his country would come to an end.
Trump jokily said as he greeted Zelenskyy: "Oh look, you’re all dressed up."
When the US was involved in that dispute over Greenland, as Trump wanted the land to be America’s, he claimed that Denmark didn't have the 'right' to the country.
Well, it's clear Trump didn't realize that Greenland is a self-governing, autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, and has been part of Denmark for 600 years.
Again in 2025, Trump - who sold branded plastic straws during his 2020 election campaign - said paper straws 'don't work' and 'disgustingly' dissolve when being used.
"These things don’t work," he said. "I’ve had them many times, and on occasion, they break, they explode."
During his address to Congress in March 2025, Trump accused the Biden administration of spending $8 million on 'transgender mice' experiments.
PBS later fact-checked this and concluded that this claim was false, with PBS News Hour's White House correspondent Laura Barrón-López saying 'the idea that scientists are making mice transgender is false'.
"These experiments were studying the effects of gender-affirming hormones on asthma and on whether gender-affirming hormones increase breast cancer risk," Barrón-López explained.
On his first day in office for his second term of presidency in January 2025, Trump infamously signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America to honor 'American greatness'.
It's important to note that the change applies only to US federal communications and maps.
During his 2024 election campaign, Trump wildly called for 'one real rough, nasty' and 'violent day' of police retaliation in order to eradicate crime 'immediately' - which many drew comparisons to the thriller film The Purge.
"One rough hour — and I mean real rough — the word will get out and it will end immediately, you know? It will end immediately," Trump said to the crowd in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Another moment during his 2024 election campaign saw Trump take aim at his opponent, former vice president Kamala Harris.
He told his supporters: "We have to tell Kamala Harris that you’ve had enough, that you just can’t take it anymore. We can’t stand you, you’re a s**t vice president. The worst."