Donald Trump has been accused of becoming more deranged and more divisive in the run-up to this year’s US election.
But social media users are convinced the former president is also turning more and more orange.
Trump, famed for his Fanta-coloured face, has repeatedly denied claims he uses any kind of fake tan or bronzing products, with an official insisting his vibrant complexion is solely down to ‘good genes’.
A recent photo of the Home Alone 2 star taken at a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in which he swapped a blazer for an orange high-vis jacket to poke fun at Joe Biden, prompted X users to joke that he had ‘evolved into his final, neon orange form’.
While the 78-year-old’s tan lines are typically a source of mockery, American photo editor Emily Elsie believes Trump’s changing hue is directly linked to his stress levels.
In a series of Instagram stories, she wrote: ‘Why is no one covering this very important data point?’
Sharing a photo of the politician shortly after the first failed assassination attempt on him earlier this year, she said: ‘In July 2024, Donald Trump looked like this…
‘And now he looks like this,’ she added alongside a more recent picture of Trump giving a speech.
‘We need to talk about the bronzer,’ she went on. ‘I used to think the problem with Trump’s “skin tone” was primarily an issue of photo retouching – aka a photographer’s choice in colour balancing.
‘I noticed that Trump’s skin tone tended to oscillate wildly depending on lighting and the colour palettes of the photographer.
‘In a “cool” light Trump’s bronzer is less intense. A slightly warmer tone makes Trump’s “skin tone” go crazy and orange.’
She said she has spent years believing The Apprentice star’s changing tan colour was made to suit his TV audiences.
‘But lately, I feel like something more psychological is happening,’ she continued. ‘When Trump took office in 2017, he was significantly less orange… but as his term wore on, more bronzer was applied.
‘The more stressed… the more makeup. And then when out of office, the makeup would only reappear for the cameras. But it was mostly toned down.
‘Then something interesting happened. After Trump’s debate with Biden in June 2024, the makeup all but disappears.
‘When Trump was up in the polls, and a victory was all but certain, the bronzer was gone.’
Sharing a recently taken photo of Trump appearing obviously darker in the face, she said: ‘Believe me when I tell you we’ve never seen him like this,’ she said. ‘Also, it appears he’s doing his hands now?’
Emily said she noticed his ‘mask’ of make-up tends to get ‘darker towards the end of his presidential campaigns’.
Asking followers to stop commenting on how ‘silly’ Trump looks, she said: ‘I don’t think he looks silly, I think he looks trapped.
‘He is acting just like we do when we are a) insulated b) insecure c) surrounded by pictures of ourselves”’
The posts were shared to X where they were viewed more than 26 million times in under 24 hours.
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