DISCLAIMER: This article was first published on July 19, 2026
Spain beat Argentina Sunday night at MetLife Stadium, and midfielder Rodri took home the Golden Ball as the tournament’s top player. Trump stepped onto the stage to shake his hand and offer congratulations, and the White House’s own Rapid Response 47 account posted the footage to X shortly after.
Rodri and Trump share the exact same official height on paper: 6-foot-3 for Rodri per ESPN, 6-foot-3 for Trump per his own physician, Dr. Sean Barbabella. In the video, only one of them actually looks it.
Rodri stands visibly taller.
.@POTUS congratulates Spain captain Rodri on winning the 2026 @FIFAWorldCup Golden Ball award pic.twitter.com/qle8N0HQ3l
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 19, 2026
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X users were quick to point out the obvious.
Why is Trump so small and fat?
— Gary Jacobson (@GaryJac09969612) July 20, 2026
“I’m 6’3” and 225 lbs.”
“I just photograph 5’6”and obese”
— Lying sociopath Donald J Trump.— Dutch (@Dutch08904348) July 20, 2026
Maybe he always wanted to be 6’3″ and he knows if he thinks he is he is! He may be close to 6′. He would never tell a lie about his weight or height?
— Sooner Principal (@silvermuscle46) July 20, 2026
He’s definitely not 6’3″! Look at the height difference between him Rodri who is actually verified to be 6’3″! Trump might I only be 5’9″!
— interior semiotics enjoyer (@drunkenseminole) July 20, 2026
Proving Trump is nowhere near 6’3″
Because Rodri is
— Headly Lamar (@HeadlyLamar1) July 20, 2026
Both these men claim to be 6’3”
— Kolks (@Kolks274037) July 19, 2026
This particular optical illusion has been following Trump around for a while now.
Last month, a photo alongside Senate Majority Leader John Thune, officially 6-foot-4, showed Thune with what looked like more than a single inch on him. Another photo next to his own daughter-in-law Lara Trump prompted the same questions. Even his own family doesn’t quite add up in his favor. His son Eric stands 6-foot-5. His youngest son Barron, now a student at NYU, is somewhere around 6-foot-9. If height ran true to genetics, Trump’s number shouldn’t be the odd one out in nearly every comparison photo.
The 6-foot-3 claim itself goes back decades.
Trump told New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd in 1999 that he photographs “short” despite actually standing 6-foot-3. He repeated the figure in 2016 after Marco Rubio brought it up during a primary debate exchange. Both of his official White House medical exams, in 2018 and again in 2025, list him at the same height.
The 2018 exam has its own asterisk attached.
It was conducted by Dr. Ronny Jackson, whose findings from that period have since drawn skepticism over how closely they tracked with results Trump would have wanted. There’s also a well-worn observation among critics that 6-foot-3 happens to keep Trump’s listed weight just under the threshold that would classify him as obese on the standard BMI scale, a threshold he’d cross at a shorter height with the same weight recorded.
Featured image via X screengrab
