Former Rare Staff
Former presidential candidate and Secretary of State John Kerry made a joke during a speech over the weekend about President Donald Trump, cementing himself as the face of the “girther movement.”
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Kerry, during an Alfalfa Club dinner speech on Saturday, said he won’t believe Rear Admiral Dr. Ronny Jackson’s medical assessment of Trump weighing 239 pounds until he takes a look at the president’s “long-form girth certificate.”
“Personally, I just won’t believe him until he produces his long-form girth certificate,” Kerry said, according to the Hill.
The “girth certificate,” of course, refers to Trump’s questioning of Barack Obama’s birth certificate, which the then candidate Trump later said originated with the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2008.
RELATED: Critics doubt that Trump is actually 6-foot-3 and weighs 239 pounds
The term “girth” usually refers to the degree of a person’s rotundity in their abdominal region, but it can also refer to something more vulgar.
It’s not clear if Kerry intended such a double-meaning, but there has been a history of these kinds of potshots at Trump — see the “small hands” meme from the wild 2016 campaign.
Rear Admiral Dr. Ronny Jackson, you may recall, said that Trump’s medical exam went “exceptionally well,” that he got a perfect 30 out of 30 on a cognitive exam, and that abstaining from tobacco and alcohol and “great genes” support a clean bill of health.
Still, there were those who questioned the validity of the exam, including the detail that Trump’s height is 6’3.
https://twitter.com/Rschooley/status/953460033378856960
Trump's medical exam says he's 6'3" and 239 pounds. Albert Pujols is 6'3" and 240 pounds. If the dementia tests are equally accurate, we are doomed. pic.twitter.com/fn0u1xzzjI
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) January 17, 2018
A-Rod, 6’3” pic.twitter.com/wqbglVayOc
— Defund the GQP (@Brasilmagic) January 17, 2018
While John Kerry may not have coined “girther movement” he was certainly referencing it.
Has anyone coined "girther" for those who belive the president weighs more than his doctor reports?
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) January 16, 2018
CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta also notably disputed that Trump’s heart was healthy, saying instead that the president has “heart disease.”
Dr. Jackson was also the physician for Presidents Bush and Obama.
