US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's "morbidly obese" remark on President Donald Trump has sparked a war of words on Twitter.
Trump, who is controversy's favorite child, is often in the news for his outrageous claims and remarks. However, his recent claims of using hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, as a prevention for the coronavirus, for more than a week, prompted health experts to issue a medical warning against the use of the drug. It was during one such reaction that Pelosi called him "morbidly obese".
Pelosi, while speaking to CNN's Anderson Cooper, said: "As far as the president is concerned, he's our President and I would rather he not be taking something that has not been approved by the scientists, especially in his age group and in his, shall we say, weight group -- morbidly obese, they say. So, I think it's not a good idea."
Is Trump 'Morbidly Obese'?
According to CNN, the term "morbidly obese" is not used by the CDC. While the CDC defines obesity as somebody having a BMI of 30 or higher, it categorizes cases of above this limit as extreme or severe obesity. Various websites such as Web MD call those falling in the BMI of 40-plus bracket as morbidly obese.
Trump's annual physical report furnished by the White House physician in 2019 revealed that the US president standing 6'3" weighs 243 pounds with a BMI of 30.4, thus falling far away from the morbidly obese category.
During a rally in New Hampshire in August last year, Trump had fat-shamed a supporter mistaking him for a protester.
"That guy's got a serious weight problem. Go home! Start exercising! Get him out of here, please! Got a bigger problem than I do! Got a bigger problem than all of us. Now he goes home and his mom says, 'What the hell have you just done?'" yelled Trump, after he saw the man pumping his fist.
Twitter Trends with Body Shaming Hashtags for Trump
Twitter was raging with hashtags related to fat shaming the US president. The Twitterati used hashtags including #MorbidlyObese, #morbidlyobese fat shaming, #PresidentPlump, #GirtherMovement to express their opinions.
"When Nancy Pelosi said Trump is #morbidlyobese, she was not fat-shaming him. Calling a spade a spade is not fat-shaming. She used the medically-correct term for his condition, and she is RIGHT that obesity creates extra risk for drugs that may affect the heart," wrote one user.
"With regard to fat shaming, I think we have much bigger fish to fry and I'm not going to waste energy debating whether Pelosi should or shouldn't have called Trump morbidly obese. He is. If it pissed him off it was worth it. #PresidentPlump I don't care," tweeted Richard Dangler. Some even compared Trump's fitness with his predecessor Barack Obama.
Nancy Pelosi Faces Heat for Her Remark
There were many who criticized Pelosi for her remark and called her a hypocrite. "Sorry, calling Trump #morbidlyobese just ain't it. It perpetuates a culture of political mudslinging that allows honest criticism of the dangerous things he's done to be dismissed as petty partisanship. Also, fat-shaming drives obesity stigma. It's not cool or funny. Focus."
One user even pointed at Pelosi's alleged beauty enhancing surgeries. "I didn't know fat shaming was back or any kind of physical shaming was cool but since liberals say it's ok, hey @SpeakerPelosi your face is starting to melt. Lay off the plastic surgery and sober up for fucks sake," wrote the user.
"There are about a billion things we should shame Trump for: his intellectual ignorance, pathological lying, cruelty, disregard for human life, racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and on and on. We don't need to mention his body: his heart and mind are shameful enough," tweeted a user.
Nancy Pelosi had to call Trump #morbidlyobese on National TV to hide the fact she still is letting Americans starve to death, lose their homes and millions have no healthcare. Yeah, I’m sure fat shaming the president is going to do anything.
— ??Erica, the white trash socialist?? (@herosnvrdie69) May 19, 2020
