There is more than one reason for this, experts on the subject explain it to us.
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Is there life after death? Why is Donald Trump so orange? So many questions that haunt us, and whose lack of answers obsesses us… While many people think that the president uses a tanning technique, such as a UV booth or a spray tan to look healthier, until now, the question remained unanswered.
Ah, yes, according to the White House, it would be thanks to his “good genes”. Well… more seriously, how can we explain that, since his election on November 6, 2024, Donald Trump appears more and more orange (if that is possible) and that his colleagues are becoming the same? And above all: why? It is time to get an explanation. And it's HuffPost that gives it to us, supported by the testimonies of makeup artists, a media trainer and a playwright.
Omarosa Manigault Newman, ousted White House adviser, confirms in her 2018 memoir that the president uses a UV booth daily. But that's not all, because to look like he's continually coming back from the tropics, it takes a lot of effort. According to Kriss Blevens, who has already done the president's makeup, "he likes a little bronzer for a warmer appearance." She would have tried to dissuade him from being too heavy-handed with the product. Without much success apparently.
Why make so much effort to have a more than tanned complexion? Because it rhymes with youth and vitality. Even more, it highlights the fact of having enough free time to play golf or go to the beach. Not to mention that Trump, a former TV personality, “has long embraced the made-for-TV aesthetic that often looks good on camera but looks awkward in real life,” says Andrea Purse, a communications consultant and media trainer.
For posterity, a glimpse of Donald John Trump looking back on February 7, 2020.
— Stephanie Kennedy (@WordswithSteph) February 8, 2020
Photo by soon to be ex-White House photographer William Moon. Goodnight, Moon. pic.twitter.com/gjV0mF1gaI
But he’s apparently not the only one who’s been seduced by a big ol’ tan or a tanning session. Former presidential adviser Steve Bannon appeared unnaturally tanned during his fraud trial. Robert Francis Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, also seems to have succumbed to the orange complexion.
“A sort of gang color”
In fact, “more and more members of the Trump team are adopting his look to please their leader. And it seems to be working,” says Purse. According to Oliver Mayer, associate dean of the USC School of Dramatic Arts, “In some ways, their choice of skin tone is a kind of gang color or tattoo that represents their class, their wealth and their hobbies, and it’s all for show.”
In fact, you don’t have to be a Republican to do this: More and more male politicians are adopting a more polished, made-up look, makeup artists say. “In the last four years, men have started to realize that they need to take care of their appearance, too,” says Misha Lewis, a makeup artist and owner of Misha Renee Artistry in Washington, D.C. “Using makeup, especially on men, can make a difference in how the public remembers them, but it has to be a skilled job,” says Nina Shyne, a makeup artist for film and television.
But there’s also the opposite problem: using too little makeup. Perhaps that’s what happened to Joe Biden during his failed debate with Donald Trump in June: Compared to his opponent, many noted that Biden looked pale and sallow. Whatever his beauty routine, Carla Pressley, a Washington makeup artist, suggests that Trump is probably caught in the following trap: “The day he shows up not fake-tanned, the world will think something is wrong.”
