Strangest Trump Family Moments In 2023

As 2024 looms, the world braces itself for the unprecedented and utterly bizarre possibility of the 47th President of the United States being sworn into office from behind bars. Still, given the Trump family's actions throughout 2023, everybody should be prepared for the most outlandish outcomes by now.

Unless you've been hibernating under a rock all year, it's impossible to be unaware of Donald Trump's never-ending legal woes. They've played an integral role throughout 2023, resulting in the former POTUS breaking records for all the wrong reasons. Per Politico, in April, the Donald became the first president, former or current, to be indicted on a criminal offense. Living up to his go "bigly" or go home rep, Donald was indicted four times, resulting in an impressive 91 federal and state charges. Which, let's face it, is not to be sniffed at.

Though highly unlikely, Forbes estimates that the former reality TV star could land more than 700 years in the slammer. For his part, Donald's sticking with his tried and tested "witch hunt" defense, claiming "political persecution" on the justice system's part. Meanwhile, when he's not in court, Donald's keeping calm and carrying on, whipping up crowds at rallies across the country, ensuring he's still hitting the headlines for out-of-court reasons, too. And, not surprisingly, Donald and his merry band of Trumps have provided a wealth of material throughout the year. So, crack open the champers and bust out the party favors; we're diving into the 10 strangest Trump family moments from 2023.

Sources claim Donald Trump is notoriously touchy when it comes to height. So perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise that the subject eventually hit home, resulting in the Donald's weird 2023 feud with Barron Trump.

Michael Wolff, the author of "Siege: Trump Under Fire," told Lawrence O'Donnell that Donald takes great umbrage over the fact Barron towers over him at 6 feet 7 inches. The diminutive dad is allegedly so insecure about the family's new Trump Tower that he refuses to be pictured directly next to his youngest son.

At first glance, Donald Trump may not appear to be all that deep. However, scratch the surface, and you'll find the mind of a philosopher on par with Socrates and Nietzsche. For example, during an October 2023 Iowa campaign rally, Trump pondered the age-old question of what's the best way to meet a violent death.

"I have the choice of electrocution or a shark; you know what I'm going to take?" he asked. "Electrocution. I will take electrocution every single time. Do we agree? I will take electrocution." Perhaps even stranger than his choice in the dilemma was Trump's now-viral pronunciation of electrocyooshun. 

Considering Donald Trump Jr.'s bizarre behavior since his dad left office, it's a no-brainer that the oldest offspring would make at least one appearance on the list. And, given the family's penchant for randomly rambling in 280 characters or less, it's only fitting that social media was involved.

Per Newsweek, in September 2023, Donald Jr.'s feed on X, formerly known as Twitter, was even stranger than usual. Included among the many outlandish missives were the fake news claims that Donald Trump was dead, Donald Jr. was taking over the political reins, and "North Korea is about to get smoked." However, never fear, Kim Jong Un, this time around, it was just a hack attack.

Melania Trump's Christmas decorations have become part and parcel of the political holidays. She was revered and reviled for 2017's haunting and sparse frozen White House wasteland and 2018's blood-red DC spooky scene. However, Melania showed off her holiday hostilities in a 2018 legendary anti-Christmas rant. "Who gives a f*** about Christmas stuff and decorations?" she said.

So it was bizarre when the former FLOTUS suddenly buried her inner Grinch in September 2023, showing off that she really does care, do U? On X, formerly known as Twitter, Melania shared that she's flogging $35-$45 ornaments and "a corresponding digital collectible."

In November 2023, Donald Trump took to the podium in Derry, New Hampshire, and literally compared himself to Nelson Mandela. "Donald Trump challenged the election, so let's put him in jail for the rest of his life," Trump said in a weird mock voice. He railed against how "they" only go after actual people who deny election results and not imaginary ones who cheat. 

"Those people are free!" Trump declared, vowing that he's not afraid of being unfairly hounded. "I don't mind being Nelson Mandela," he announced. "Because I'm doing it for a reason." Somebody needs to get Toby Keith on the phone so he can work on a rallying anthem.

Donald Trump Jr. crops up again for the bizarre Ron DeSantis video he shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, in May 2023. The AI-generated clip depicts DeSantis as Michael Scott in a clip from "The Office," where the character is wearing a woman's suit.

DeSantis does seem to spend a lot of time in high heels 🤣🤣🤣pic.twitter.com/0Q43xzZskM

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 26, 2023

"Are you wearing lady clothes because those look like lady pants," an actor asks the DeSantis fake Steve Carell character. "No, this is a power suit," he replies, serving up the possibility of a DeSantis and Hillary Clinton double shade grand slam. "DeSantis does seem to spend a lot of time in high heels," Donald Jr. captioned the video along with laughing face emojis.

Donald Trump seized Mother's Day as a prime posting opportunity in May 2023. But, he didn't take to Truth Social to heap praise on Melania Trump, the mother of his son, Barron Trump, or fondly remember his late mom, Mary Anne MacLeod Trump. They didn't even get a mention, which is no bad thing, considering the content of his seething rampage.

Instead, Donald namechecked "the Mothers, Wives, and Lovers of the Radical Left Fascists, Marxists, and Communists," who are attempting to "destroy and obliterate" the USA. "Please make these complete Lunatics and Maniacs Kinder, Gentler, Softer, and, most importantly, Smarter so that we can quickly Make America Great Again!!!"' he concluded.

Donald Trump was mid-flow in a speech about Israel when he was interrupted by a pesky fly during a campaign rally in November 2023.

"I didn't know you had flies in Iowa," Trump remarked to the adoring roaring crowd as the Diptera detractor descended. "I hate flies," he continued in a weird, deep voice. Random. Trump launched into an anti-fly diatribe that included the claim that fly paper isn't sold anymore because of animal cruelty. "What the h*** is going on with this country?" He demanded to know. Good question.

You really have to go some way to outdo Donald Trump in the bile, bluster, and bizarre Trump stakes. Still, in March 2023, Donald Trump Jr. managed to outshine his dad with a weird CPAC speech where he pretended to be the lamest Willy Wonka/Oprah hybrid ever.

"Uh, check under your seats," Donald Jr. told the crowd. "If there happens to be a gold chocolate bar underneath there, that's a VIP," he continued before being interrupted by peals of laughter. Clearly, not a tough crowd. "Oh, I'm not joking!" Donald Jr. informed the captive audience. "That's a VIP ticket to my father's reception tomorrow at CPAC!"

Donald Trump suddenly became quite the protective pa in December 2023, as he begged for the judge on his civil fraud trial to leave his three poor, innocent middle-aged toddlers alone. "I told my wonderful son, Eric, not to testify tomorrow at the rigged trial," Donald announced in one Truth Social post, claiming Eric Trump's young life has already been "unfairly disturbed and disrupted enough."

"The Late Show" encapsulated Donald's child protection pleas in a video, pointing out that Donald Jr. is far from a young and naïve child at age 45. Meanwhile, Eric is 39, and Ivanka Trump is 41.