Former President Donald Trump again made fun of rival GOP presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last week for allegedly wearing height-boosting footwear to debates, saying he “walks like a duck.” Expert shoemakers reportedly agree that the Florida governor is probably wearing height boosters in his boots.
“Did you see him walk off the stage in the last debate? He could barely walk,” Trump said about DeSantis during an over two-hour-long exclusive interview with Breitbart News at Mar-a-Lago. “I’m a little bit surprised he continues to do it because he had trouble as he walked off the stage in the last debate.”
“Somebody is going to say to him, ‘Take off those shoes; we want to see if they’re high heels.’ He’s going to have no choice but to do it if you had a really good debater,” Trump joked. “That’s what they’d do because he tries to pretend it doesn’t happen. He walks like a duck.”
Three expert shoemakers told Politico in October that the Florida Republican probably is wearing height boosters in his boots. “I’ve dealt with these politicians many times,” said Zephan Parker, the custom bootmaker behind the Parker Boot Company in Houston, Texas, “I’ve helped them with their lifts. [DeSantis] is wearing lifts; there’s no doubt.”
Although public scrutiny has grown in recent months, with a rising number of commentators speculating that DeSantis is wearing high-heel lifts in his cowboy boots for public appearances, the Republican presidential contender denies it.
In an October interview with Patrick Bet-David, a conservative business education podcaster, DeSantis said he is 5 feet, 11 inches tall and denied wearing any height-modifying footwear. He said a pair of boots widely examined on social media for containing lifts were off-the-shelf Lucchese boots with no height boosters.
This clip of PBD putting Ron DeSantis on the spot about his high heel boots 😂 pic.twitter.com/m76YUYfAdm
— LeftMap 🩻 (@leftmapcs) October 31, 2023
During a November MAGA rally, Trump teased, “I’m not wearing lifts by the way. I’m not wearing six-inch heels.” He said that at the recent presidential debate that DeSantis was “walking off the stage like he’s trying to balance himself. I thought he was wearing ice skates.”
Mr. Trump is the third-tallest president in U.S. history, standing at 6 foot, 3 inches tall.
President Trump mocks Ron DeSanctimonious for stumbling on the debate stage in his high heels. pic.twitter.com/JJlvDU9HAc
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) November 11, 2023
