What is the origin of the 'Trump diaper' story and who first reported it?
Executive summary
The “Trump diaper” story grew from an old, salacious rumor about Donald Trump’s bodily functions and a 2018 onstage claim by comedian Noel Casler that Trump “would often soil himself” (origin of the rumor) into a coordinated, visible meme at 2024 rallies — a trend first amplified online by the pro‑Trump blog Dispatches from Trumpland and documented around the same time by local reporters and outlets [1] [2]. Snopes concluded the rallies-with-diapers claim is true as a documented trend while noting the precise origin of the joke is unclear [2].
1. A rumor with history: the seed planted in 2018
The immediate cultural seed for the “Trump wears diapers” narrative can be traced to a widely reported, unverified anecdote by Noel Casler in 2018 alleging Trump soiled himself while on The Apprentice set — a claim that pundits and fact‑checkers have repeatedly described as unproven, but which seeded an enduring online gag about Trump’s alleged intestinal distress [1].
2. Memes, mockery and “#TrumpSmells”: how online jokes primed the field
Online mockery about Trump’s smell and health — typified by viral hashtags like #TrumpSmells and commentary from political media personalities — helped normalize diaper jokes as comic shorthand for physical decline, a context repeatedly cited in coverage of later diaper sightings [3] [4].
3. From photos to trend: Dispatches from Trumpland’s April post and early photographic reporting
The moment the diaper gag crossed into real‑world political theater was in spring 2024, when a Dispatches from Trumpland blog post published photographs of rallygoers in diaper‑themed gear (one early post is dated April) and those images were then picked up and circulated widely online; Snopes flagged that post among the documentation it used in rating the broader claim “True” because multiple outlets also reported similar sightings [2] [1].
4. Local reporting: earlier photographs and the Greensboro News & Record connection
While Dispatches from Trumpland amplified the meme, journalistic traces predate or parallel that amplification: a March 2 photo in the Greensboro News & Record identified an individual wearing a “Real Men Wear Diapers” shirt, and a Michigan political reporter, Nick Smith, posted photos on Feb. 17 showing a banner with the same slogan — evidence that the apparel and banners existed in multiple locales before widespread national attention [2].
5. What “first reported” means here — amplification vs. origin
Answering who “first reported” depends on definition: if “first to claim Trump himself needs diapers” points to the old anecdote, the Casler remark in 2018 is the earliest widely circulated assertion about Trump wearing diapers [1]; if “first to report the diaper‑at‑rallies phenomenon” refers to the 2024 occurrences, Dispatches from Trumpland’s April photo post is the pivotal online amplifier, while local reporting and image posts by Nick Smith and the Greensboro News & Record documented physical instances earlier or contemporaneously [1] [2].
6. Motives, staging and the limits of the record
Interpretations vary: some participants embraced the gag to mock Democratic contempt or courtroom taunts tied to Michael Cohen’s testimony, others used it as ironic culture‑war performance; Dispatches from Trumpland’s partisan posture and the possibility of staged or meme‑driven participation means skepticism about organic origins is warranted — and Snopes explicitly notes the origin of the trend remains unclear even as the sightings themselves are documented [2] [5] [1]. The available reporting does not definitively prove who first wore the shirt or created the slogan, only who first amplified and who documented it in print and social media.