Trump's Height Doesn't Really Matter

The United States is now less than one month away from President-elect Donald Trump being sworn into office, making him the 45th commander in chief of the United States, no matter how many millions more people would've preferred his opponent. The impending date of Trump's inauguration has stirred up countless questions and concerns, both big and small. So, here's a relatively small thing to consider, albeit one that might expose just a little more mendacity on the part of our next president — how tall is Trump, really?

It's no secret how tall he wants people to think he is. That's transparently clear: If you take the man at his word now, he's 6-feet-3-inches tall. That's the height he gave during his absurd, definitely not a proper medical records reveal on the Dr. Oz show during the campaign, just one of many ways — albeit a less-consequential one — that he made a thorough mockery of the electoral process.

Indeed, the paper Trump handed over to Oz during the taping of his show pegged his height and weight at 6-feet-3-inches, 237 pounds. But, as a new report from Politico suggests, it turns out he might be fudging the numbers a bit.

As the report (and the tweet embedded above) reveals, the height Trump listed on his New York driver's license, issued on May 3, 2012, is an inch shorter than cited on Oz's show, and presumably, what the medical information he handed over to the TV doctor claimed. His license lists his height as 6-feet-2-inches, alongside a photo that was clearly taken years prior.

It's fair to wonder whether an inch-sized lie is being told, given Trump's well-documented affinity for self-aggrandizement, and the egregiously unprofessional and bombastic note on his health first written up by his personal physician, Dr. Harold Bornstein. But at the end of it all, this height discrepancy doesn't really matter.

It's pretty inconsequential, especially within the pantheon of far more concerning Trump exaggerations — like being "smart" enough to reportedly skip so many of his intelligence briefings, for example, a starkly hypocritical position given his past criticisms of President Obama.

But it's relevant in at least one way. Namely, at a listed 236 pounds, a height of 6-feet-2-inches would make Trump obese, according to the body mass index, which a height on inch taller would narrowly make him "overweight." Of course, if you suspect he's fudging the height number, whether he actually weighs 236 pounds becomes an open question.

Obviously, whether Trump is a little shorter or a little pudgier than he claims isn't of huge consequence — for starters, body mass index is an extremely flawed way of judging a person's overall health and fitness.

But it would indicate that his health disclosures were at least in some sense not accurate.