Donald Trump drew attention again after telling a young schoolgirl she may be better suited to a different sport, suggesting she was ‘too short’ for the path she wanted.
A group of schoolchildren were welcomed to the White House’s South Lawn yesterday as part of a visit highlighting the Trump administration’s push to bring back the Presidential Fitness Test.
The long-running grade-school assessment includes multiple physical challenges. Under the five-part format, students complete: a one-mile run, pull-ups or push-ups, sit-ups, shuttle run, and sit-and-reach, according to Harvard Health.
During the event, Trump demonstrated his well-known dance move for the students. Later, several children joined him inside the Oval Office, where he took part in a press Q&A with the kids nearby.
While speaking with the visiting students, he also had a direct exchange with a young girl about the sports she plays.
Explaining what she’s into, she told him: “I play volleyball and in the summer I’m trying to get into soccer.”
Trump then asked: “At your height do you smash the ball in the volleyball?” before following up with: “Can you jump high?”
When she said that part is difficult for her, he replied: “Soccer might be better.”
He then turned to the adults in the room and commented: “I’m just looking at her [and] she’d be a great soccer player.”
Maybe she’ll end up hitting a growth spurt and become the next Kerri Walsh Jennings…
🚨CREEPY: Trump sizes up a young girl with his hands and says “I’m just looking at her.”
This is beyond disgusting and knowing what we know it’s hard to watch. pic.twitter.com/NGOsaDrzaK
— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) May 5, 2026
Trump also made a joke at his own expense when the conversation turned to his fitness, saying: “I work out so much. Like about one minute a day, max, if I’m lucky.”
Elsewhere in the same Q&A, he moved onto the war in Iran in front of the children, offering a detailed and grim description of what he thinks could have unfolded if Iran had obtained nuclear weapons.
He said: “I can tell you, the Middle East would have been gone. Israel would have been gone. And they would have trained their sights on Europe, first, and then [America].”
Following the remarks, some people criticised him for raising such heavy subject matter with school students within earshot, arguing that conversations about war should be left to families to handle as they see fit.
One critic wrote on Twitter: “Why talk about such a distressing situation in front of kids who were extremely likely NOT THERE TO HEAR ABOUT IRAN.”