Trump vows – President Donald Trump accepted an Olympic gold medal from U.S. speed skater Jordan Stolz during a farmers roundtable in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, vowed he was never giving it back, praised Stolz’s physique, and then returned the medal at the end of the event
President Donald Trump took a break from politics and into spectacle Friday in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, where he stood beside Rep. Derrick Van Orden at a roundtable with area farmers and accepted an Olympic gold medal from U.S. speed skater Jordan Stolz.
The moment came after Trump spent part of his morning railing against the stock market. It was a day when the S&P and Nasdaq had their worst performance of the year even as a jobs report came in better than expected.
At the roundtable, Trump turned to Stolz—who is a Wisconsin native and a two-time Olympic gold medalist—and recognized him in front of the crowd. “And finally, two-time gold medal winner in speed skating at this year’s Winter Olympics, Jordan Stolz,” the president said. “Where the hell is he?”
The crowd answered with a burst of noise and a familiar chant: “U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A, U.S.A.”
Stolz walked up to Trump, the two shook hands, and Stolz placed a medal around Trump’s neck. Trump immediately played to the room, telling the crowd he was keeping it. “I’m keeping it. I’m keeping it, Jordan. I’m not giving it back. I’m a very good guy for keeping gold. I like gold. I’m never giving this back. Congratulations.”.
He then moved from the medal to the man, commenting on Stolz’s physicality. “I forgot to touch his leg,” Trump said. “I didn’t want to do that. But I can tell you one thing, his leg is like a rock. That’s fan– two gold medals. Wow, that’s big stuff. Thank you. It’s an honor.”
When the roundtable ended, Trump returned the medal to Stolz.
The exchange landed in a pattern Trump has leaned on before: emphasizing appearance and physical traits when he meets people. During the roundtable. he referred to former NFL offensive lineman Joe Thomas as a “good-looking man.” Last month at a rally in New York. Trump was introduced by Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart. and Trump said Dart has “legs like tree trunks.” Days later. he told Fox News he wished he looked like the “beautiful” football player. Two days before that New York rally, Trump spoke to graduates of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and marveled at the physical fitness record of one of them. saying. “Wow. this guy must be something. ” before calling out Thomas Roach—“Thomas. get up here. please. I wanna see. I want to check him out!”.
For all the promise about keeping gold, Friday’s medal ended the same way the event began: Trump took it in, acknowledged Stolz in front of the crowd, and returned it before he walked away.
Donald Trump Jordan Stolz Olympic gold medal Chippewa Falls Wisconsin farmers roundtable Derrick Van Orden S&P 500 Nasdaq Winter Olympics speed skating
So he kept the gold medal… then gave it back. Sounds like clickbait to me.
The whole thing about touching legs and calling him a “rock” is weird. Like why is he talking about physique at a farmers roundtable? Also medals get handed over then returned??
idk maybe he really meant he’d keep it as like symbolic or something. But then returning it at the end makes it sound fake. And the market stuff in the same day just proves he can’t focus on anything.
I’m just confused—did Jordan Stolz actually put the medal on him or did they say it was his gold medal? And the chanting U-S-A thing like… okay? Also “legs like tree trunks”?? That’s not the kind of presidential behavior I wanna see, even if he’s praising athletes.