September 27, 2016

Donald Trump Fires Back at Former Miss Universe Winner He Once Called “Miss Piggy”

“She gained a massive amount of weight and it was a real problem.”


The morning after Hillary Clinton confronted Donald Trump with his own words describing former Miss Universe winner Alicia Machado as “Miss Piggy,” the Republican presidential candidate doubled down on his disparaging remarks by calling Machado’s past weight gain a “real problem.”

“She gained a massive amount of weight and it was a real problem,” Trump said during an appearance on Fox News on Tuesday morning. “Not only that, her attitude, we had a real problem with her. So, Hillary went back into the years and she found this girl and talked about her like she was Mother Teresa, but it wasn’t quite that way.”

He went on to attribute Clinton’s mention of Machado during the first presidential debate as an attempt to stay ahead in national polls.

Shortly after the debate wrapped up on Monday, the Clinton campaign released a web video featuring Machado where she described Trump as a frightening figure who routinely bullied her about her appearance. In one incident, Machado claims Trump once ambushed her with reporters who filmed her while she exercised—an experience she said left her scarred with eating disorders.

Machado announced that she recently became a US citizen and will be voting for Clinton this November.

WE'LL BE BLUNT:

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate