DISCLAIMER: This article was first published on May 2, 2026
Donald Trump made his first public appearance since the assassination attempt on Friday, traveling to The Villages in Central Florida for a campaign-style rally seven days after a gunman got within yards of him at the Washington Hilton.
Reuters photographer Nathan Howard was there. The image he captured landed on social media Friday afternoon and has not stopped generating commentary since.
The image shows Trump mid-speech, fist raised above his head, mouth open wide, eyes closed and head tilted back in the particular expression that falls somewhere between operatic and alarming.
MeidasTouch posted it on X with the caption “Photo of Donald Trump from yesterday.”
Photo of Donald Trump from yesterday.
REUTERS/Nathan Howard pic.twitter.com/coxpyycNiX
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) May 2, 2026
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Reactions poured in shortly after.
Thats a lot of chins
— BostonBoss🍀🏆 (@beantownboss12) May 2, 2026
He’s just so disgusting.
— Exist2Resist✊🏻 (@ResistFascista) May 2, 2026
Not sure who does his make-up, but i am sure that person must hate him too. The word of the day is #orangebuffoon
— Delana Koning (@delana_kon67693) May 2, 2026
He look like someone that is singing Asia pop songs.
— Chris.ea (@0xchrisea) May 2, 2026
Why doesn’t he have acne from all that makeup?
— Two Cats (@DracoBeauty) May 2, 2026
He’s fantasizing about the good old Epstein days.
— Hugo🪺 🐝🦋🐴🌾🐬🌎🌻🥑 (@HugoBGood) May 2, 2026
His skin is terrible. All that money and never heard of a facial.
— InevitableFacts 🙈🙉🙊 (@Nikhedonia11) May 2, 2026
Friday’s appearance at The Villages, one of the largest retirement communities in the country, was Trump’s first event outside the White House since the Correspondents’ Dinner shooting.
He credited his tax-and-spending legislation with lowering taxes on Social Security benefits and touted his administration’s plan to make GLP-1 weight-loss drugs available to Medicare patients starting in July.
Trump only briefly addressed the assassination attempt during the speech. “I should be indoors at a secure facility where I can quickly, beautifully and safely play out my term, destroying everything that comes in our way, like bad countries that want to get nuclear weapons,” he said.
The trip came as Trump’s approval rating hit 34%, matching the low-watermark from the end of his first term. More than six in ten voters disapprove of his performance according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted largely before the shooting.
Featured image via X screengrab
