The most important story in U.S. politics this week is that Elon Musk may have sparked a government shutdown with a few social-media posts. But for some reason the most viral story of the week is that Donald Trump has a new haircut, or perhaps just a new hairstyle.
But neither of these radical Trump-hair developments is actually happening. And I have the video to prove it.
On Tuesday evening, X user @michaelsolakiewicz posted this video of the president-elect strolling through the lobby of his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Your next President, President-Elect Donald J Trump, today at the beautiful Trump International Golf Club Palm Beach!! TRUMP-VANCE 2024! #MAGA #donaldtrump #trump2024 #palmbeach #florida @realdonaldtrump @teamtrump @trumpwarroom @trumpgolfpalmbeach @trumpgolf @whitehouse45 ????:… pic.twitter.com/B4asbHZoJ0
— Michael Solakiewicz (@michaelsolakie) December 18, 2024
As you can see, his hair looks taller, with slicked back sides. He’s also holding a MAGA hat in his hand, so it’s a safe assumption that he’s just removed it, and the unusual look is the result of hat hair.
Unsurprisingly, the internet did not run with the most obvious explanation. Instead, searches for “Trump new haircut” blew up on Google. Newsweek consulted “psychologists, political branding experts and hairstylists” to determine what was actually happening on Trump’s scalp. Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner theorized that the style was meant to reflect the “winds of winning.” The Daily Mail gushed over the new look in a story titled, “He’s our hairdo! Donald Trump’s swept back ‘hat hair’ has the internet ablaze with users desperate for copy-cat dos.”
There is scant evidence that people are actually copying Trump’s new coif, but if you are scrambling to set up an appointment with your barber, you should stop and review the footage below first.
It does not appear that Trump has been professionally photographed in the past 48 hours. But social-media users did post videos of Trump dining with Jeff Bezos at Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday night. Here he is waving at an applauding crowd in the lobby (which I guess is something that happens ever 20 minutes at Trump resorts) in video taken by @allan_judo_mma and reposted by @realmichaelsolakiewicz:
Instagram user @liebaness captured footage of Trump’s hairstyle from the side:
And the back:
Trump’s hair is a kaleidoscope: It’s always shifting slightly, depending on how long his hairdresser can get him to sit with the dye in and how much hairspray he has on hand. But clearly he is back to his usual hair vibe: sculpted into a side-swept comb over and somewhere on the blond-to-orange spectrum.
So unless you are paying homage to Buzz from Home Alone this holiday season, there’s no reason to run out and copy the emperor’s new ’do.
