A viral photo showing what Donald Trump would look like without his signature orange-toned skin and comb-over has many thinking that the natural Trump looks exactly like the villainous Old Man Potter from the classic It’s A Wonderful Life .
The pictures imagining a tan and makeup-free Trump went viral this week after a White House representative claimed that — against seemingly all odds — Donald Trump’s orange-ish complexion is not the result of any tanning or makeup but instead “good genes.” As a makeup expert from the women’s fashion magazine Allure noted, there was likely no way the claim is true given the president’s unnatural skin tone.
“We’ve all come to expect unbridled dishonesty from Trump about every imaginable topic, and what he claims about how his skin got its tangerine tone is extremely far down on my list of concerns about the dude,” the report said of the White House statement this week that many pegged as a lie. “But directing other people to lie about his skin — that’s a ridiculous (albeit unsurprising) new level of WTF.”
That led to a backlash on Twitter as users manipulated photos of Trump to show what his skin is likely supposed to look like under the self-tanner or whatever other makeup is used to generate what they see as a very unnatural skin tone. Using the tone of Trump’s skin around his eyes, which seem to be immune to the orange hue, they showed the seemingly normal face Trump would have without whatever products he uses. Others took it a step further, taking away his famous comb-over making him bald (as he appears to be naturally .)
As Mikel Jollett noted on Twitter, the result makes Trump look like Old Man Potter from the movie It’s A Wonderful Life , the character who took the No. 6 spot on the American Film Institute’s list of the 50 Greatest Villains in American film history. In the movie, Mr. Potter tries to destroy protagonist George Bailey so he can acquire the Bailey Building & Loan, one of the few businesses in town that he doesn’t own and the company that offers mortgages to residents that allow them to buy homes and stay out of his slumlord housing.
To many, the character seemed an apt comparison to Donald Trump.
Wow. Without all the makeup and stuff, Trump looks like Old Man Potter from It’s a Wonderdul Life. pic.twitter.com/n3mNjrjiH4
— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) February 10, 2019
Despite the imaginations of the anti-Trump contingent on Twitter, the White House and Donald Trump continue to insist that the orange-ish tone is the president’s natural skin color.