Day 967: Trump: White House light bulbs make me ‘look orange’
There’s a level of vanity among most politicians, but few have risen to the level of Donald Trump’s obsession with personal appearance. Since-exiled whipping boys Jeff Sessions (shortness) and John Bolton (mustache) were both nearly not hired for their Attorney General and National Security Advisor roles respectively due to physical appearance.
Trump always cares about how he looks, including lengthy concerns about his finger size.
So it should come as no surprise he’s blaming the White House’s lights for his appearance. During the House Republican Conference Member Retreat dinner in Baltimore on Thursday, Trump complained that White House lights are altering the way he looks.
In his remarks, Trump lamented that he “always look[s] orange” and that energy efficient light bulbs are “many times more expensive than that old, incandescent bulb that worked very well.”
Despite Trump’s claims, energy efficient light bulbs save both money and energy long-term, according to the Department of Energy’s website.
Compared to traditional incandescents, energy-efficient lightbulbs such as halogen incandescents, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), and light emitting diodes (LEDs) have the following advantages:
- Typically use about 25%-80% less energy than traditional incandescents, saving you money
- Can last 3–25 times longer.
The lighting issue has apparently been on his mind all week. Laughably, he told a North Carolina crowd on Monday that he’s “not a vain person” but the lights make him look bad.
As for Trump’s appearance, he has looked partially orange — his hands and the areas around his eyes, for example, are substantially lighter— for years, regardless of location. Whether the result of tanning beds or creams or sprays or something else, his hue has always been a question.
Officially, the White House line is that Trump gets his glow from “good genes,” but like many other explanations from this administration, that seems patently false.
Other theories have been floated to explain Trump’s skin color, including tanning beds, spray tan, and make-up. Tanning beds were immediately ruled out, as sources told the Times there isn’t one in the White House: “according to three people who have spent time in the White House residence, no such bed or spray-tan booth exists in a hidden nook of the residence, a cranny of the East Wing or a closet on Air Force One. Two senior White House officials insisted that no such apparatus exists.”
Ironically, as Rolling Stone noted in February, the White House has already changed some of its lighting due to Trump’s complaints about his skin tone.
The president is apparently self-conscious of his burnt sienna skin. He has voiced complaints to aides that he appeared too orange on television, which has led to staff dimming the lighting of many White House events.
967 days in, 495 to go
Follow us on Twitter at @TrumpTimer
