First lady Melania Trump isn’t a fan of some of President Donald Trump’s more theatrical moments onstage, he said while speaking to Republicans at the Kennedy Center on Tuesday, Jan. 6.
Before launching into an impression of what he described as a transgender athlete lifting weights — a routine he’s used more than once in formal remarks — Trump told the crowd that his wife strongly disapproves.
“By the way, my wife hates when I do this,” Trump said, explaining that Melania considers it “terrible” and “unpresidential.” Trump added that she also dislikes his dancing during appearances.
He said the first lady has urged him to stop, telling him, “Darling, please. The weight lifting is terrible.” Trump, however, argued that audiences respond positively — particularly when he dances — and claimed crowds sometimes chant for him to do it.
Trump also shared an exchange in which Melania reportedly asked, “Could you imagine FDR dancing?” Trump replied by calling Franklin D. Roosevelt “quite elegant,” then added that Roosevelt “wouldn’t be doing this,” raising both hands in the air as he spoke.
The president performed a similar “weight-lifting” impersonation in May 2025 while addressing the graduating class at the University of Alabama, where he again noted that the first lady “gets very upset” because he believes it isn’t presidential. He asked the audience whether he should do it, and after cheers, he joked that he’d be “in trouble” when he got home.
Such performances have become a familiar feature of Trump’s political events. At a town hall in Pennsylvania in October 2024, he danced and swayed to music onstage for 39 minutes after opting not to take additional questions from attendees. During that appearance, after two rounds of “Ave Maria,” he requested The Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.,” a song he has frequently played at events.
Trump has also brought Melania into his remarks in other ways. At a North Carolina rally on Dec. 19, 2025, he deviated from his speech to discuss the FBI’s 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago, describing agents going into his wife’s closet and commenting on how her undergarments were folded and packaged.
