President Trump Has Apparently Forgotten He Isn’t Running a Beauty Pageant Anymore
Photo: Getty.
As most of us are well aware, the current occupant of the White House has a more unconventional résumé than the average politician, one that includes real estate, a reality show, a failed steak company, and an international beauty pageant. But on Tuesday, it seems President Donald Trump forgot that he had sold the Miss Universe organization in 2015, engaging with an Irish reporter as if she were a pageant contestant on one of his stages.
During a phone call with Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar, Trump spotted journalist Caitríona Perry of RTÉ News in the crowd and asked her to come over to his desk. “We have all of this beautiful Irish press watching us in the room,” he said, pointing to Perry and then beckoning her by crooking his index finger. “Where are you from?”
After Perry introduced herself, Trump continued to stare. “Caitríona Perry; she has a nice smile on her face,” he said to the prime minister over the phone. “So I bet she treats you well.” Perry later called the moment “bizarre” on Twitter.
Of course, we shouldn’t expect better behavior from a man who has bragged about grabbing women by the genitals without their consent, or who once berated Megyn Kelly with a reference to menstruation, but let yesterday serve as a reminder to those who still harbored hopes that some time in the White House might magically turn Trump into a more presidential leader: He continues to prove exactly the opposite. Try as you might, you can elevate a man to power, but you can’t make him rise to the occasion.
This story originally appeared on Vogue.
More from Vogue:
166 Stunning Celebrity Looks From The 2017 Met Gala
13 of the Best-Selling Red Lipsticks of All Time
All of the Celebrity Looks from the 2016 Met Gala
25 Secret Celebrity Weddings We Still Know Little About
The 27 Best Beach Bodies of All Time
The Best Hourglass Bodies of All Time: From Raquel Welch to Beyoncé
