Donald Trump has been mocked after re-iterating his claim that a former doctor once told him he was a "better physical specimen" than Barack Obama, who is more than a decade younger than him.
The former president, who is running for a second term in the White House, made the claim during a speech at the 153rd Annual National Rifle Association Meeting in Dallas, Texas, on Saturday. The event was attended by around 72,000 people and Trump received the organisation's endorsement in this year's presidential election.
While addressing the group, the 77-year-old spoke about his time in office, when he had the same White House doctor as 62-year-old Obama, Dr Ronny Jackson. Trump said: "They asked him who's healthier, who is a better physical specimen, is it Donald Trump, or is it Obama? He said it is not even close, Donald Trump, not even close, I said I love this guy. Dr. Ronny Jackson."
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Trump's comments got many laughs from the audience and were then ridiculed on social media. One person posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: "When it comes down to it, he's just a deeply sick man in every way a human can be." Another user wrote: "Trump is a joke and a loser. He's always been a joke and a loser. He got lucky once. Never again."
Someone else joked: "Does he even know who he's running against? Not sure he's even healthier than Biden let alone Obama lol." And another commented: "Why on Earth would he say this? Why would this person boast that a doctor says he is more fit than Obama?"
Democrat Harry Sisson pointed out how Trump has appeared to nod off several times during his ongoing hush money trial as he wrote: "Donald Trump just tried to claim that he’s 'healthier' and a 'better physical specimen' than President Obama. Now this is how you know he’s REALLY delusional. This is the same guy who is falling asleep in court every single day, by the way."
Trump has often mentioned Obama in his campaign speeches and earlier this year he confused the former president with current president Joe Biden. The gaffe came when Trump was discussing Russian President Vladimir Putin and said he "has so little respect for Obama that he's starting to throw around the nuclear word."
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Back in 2011, before campaigning for president, Trump made false allegations about Obama's birth country. After facing backlash, in 2016 he retracted, saying: "President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period."
It's not the first time Trump has claimed to be healthier than Obama either. Back in December Trump told the same anecdote to a crowd of his fans at a campaign rally at the Hyatt Hotel in Coralville, Iowa. Recalling his conversation with Dr Jackson, Trump said: "I said, ‘Who’s healthier?’. He said, ‘Sir, there’s no contest.’ I won’t tell you the answer, but you know the answer, OK? It was me.”
Trump's latest outlandish claim comes as a post sent out from Trump's social media account suggested his victory would bring about a "unified Reich". The post was shared on the former president's Truth Social account while he was on a lunch break from his Manhattan hush money trial. It used the word "Reich" - a word which has strong connotations of Hitler's "Third Reich" - or the Nazi regime.
Trump's campaign said the video was not an approved campaign post, with spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt saying: "This was not a campaign video, it was created by a random account online and reposted by a staffer who clearly did not see the word, while the President was in court."