President Donald Trump’s trip to Ireland produced no shortage of headlines, from rambling speech to his attendance at a golf outing.
The president received a cold welcome from locals and protesters since he stepped off the plane in Dublin on Sept. 12.
Now, he is making headlines for something he has historically mocked others for.
Irish President Catherine Connolly greeted him at Áras an Uachtaráin, where a military band played both nations’ anthems.
The visit also included meetings with Irish officials before Trump headed to his Doonbeg resort for the Irish Open.
However, Trump’s shoes soon threatened to steal attention from the diplomatic pageantry. Slowed footage of Trump inspecting Ireland’s Guard of Honor revealed an impossible-to-ignore detail near his left foot.
Trump tried to walk briskly past two rows of troops during the ceremony as if nothing was wrong. From certain angles, Trump’s prized Florsheims looked ready to give up, with one frame showing a possible gap between the sole and upper.
“His shoes are cheap, just like everything about him,” one observer noticed after vieing images on Threads user. Another asked, “Was the heel flopping?”
The visuals were brutal as many questioned if he even knew.
“Our president is flopping around in broken shoes? Does he even know?,” asked another critic.
Viewers also pointed to one video circulating on Threads that seemingly shows Trump dragging his left leg causing folks to zoom in further.
“He’s kicking his left leg out real weird. Do you mean that one,” one critic asked.
While another noticed his leg “looks like it won’t bend.”
There is another possibility: Trump’s shoe may not have been broken at all.
The strange-looking gap near his heel could have been nothing more than a trick of the light, with glare hitting the shoe at just the right angle to create the illusion that the sole had separated.
Depending on the frame and camera angle, the reflection could make an intact shoe appear damaged — meaning the viral “broken shoe” moment may have been more optical illusion than wardrobe malfunction.
It was not the first time Trump’s footwear became the unexpected focus of a public appearance.
During the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 remembrance ceremony at the Pentagon, where he appeared alongside Melania Trump, photographs highlighted swelling around his ankles above his black shoes.
The White House disclosed in July 2025 that doctors had diagnosed Trump with chronic venous insufficiency.
The common circulatory condition can cause swelling in the lower legs and ankles. The diagnosis offers medical context for the appearance of Trump’s lower legs, though it does not establish whether the shoe photographed in Ireland was damaged.
Similar scrutiny erupted through his entire second term as observers examined photographs. Briefings in the Oval Office image give the public a front-row view of his slanted shoes or bending unusually at the soles.
Trump’s feet were back under the microscope the next month, in January 2026.
Footage from his Mar-a-Lago New Year’s Eve celebration showed him entering with Melania while appearing to drag his right leg slightly. He adjusted his stride after walking into view of the cameras, prompting another wave of speculation about his gait and mobility.
The footwear attention is especially awkward because Trump has turned men’s shoes into an unofficial White House loyalty accessory.
He reportedly developed an obsession with $145 Florsheim dress shoes, frequently purchasing pairs for government officials, advisers, and favored visitors.
But his tactics caused issues for the family business behind Trump’s favorite Florsheim shoes. Owners blasted his tariff policies in May, warning that the costs were becoming impossible to manage.
Weyco Group CEO Thomas Florsheim said the tariffs pushed duties on its shoes as high as 161 percent. The company also received a surprise bill exceeding $1 million.
He said keeping shoes near their usual $150 price would become impossible without overseas manufacturing. That tension makes Trump’s own complaints about the size footwear even more striking.
Vice President JD Vance recalled Trump interrupting an Oval Office meeting to criticize his shoes and Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s. Trump reportedly told them they were wearing “sh—y shoes.”
The president then pulled out a catalog, asked for their shoe sizes and reportedly ordered four pairs for each man.
Other recipients have included Pete Hegseth, Sean Duffy, Howard Lutnick, Lindsey Graham, Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson. Trump reportedly pays for the shoes himself, sometimes signing the boxes or attaching personal notes.
The gifts come with one unspoken complication: Trump notices whether recipients actually wear them. One White House official summed up the footwear craze this way: “All the boys have them.”
That has turned a reasonably priced Oxford into something like a West Wing uniform. Staffers might prefer other brands, but few want to explain that choice while Trump is staring beneath the conference table.
For a president who keeps such close watch over his staff’s footwear, the Ireland close-up has people looking back at him. It’s become a particularly pointed sole check. And with flappy heels, maybe he’s the one with sh—y shoes.
238 lbs. my ass. 338 lbs. is more like it.
— Lakota Man (@LakotaMan1) September 13, 2026
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