Trump says Melania shames his dancing by telling him FDR — who had polio — wouldn't do it
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he makes an impression of a transgender weightlifter during his address to House Republicans at their annual issues conference retreat at the Kennedy Center, renamed the Trump-Kennedy Center by the Trump-appointed board of directors, in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 6, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

President Donald Trump revealed that his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, was apparently not aware that former President Franklin D. Roosevelt used a wheelchair.

"And my wife, by the way, my wife hates when I do this," Trump said of his dancing at rallies during a House GOP retreat on Tuesday. "She said, you know, she's a very classy person, right? She said, it's so unpresidential. I said, but I did become president. Somebody, she hates when I dance. I said, everybody wants me to dance."

"Darling, it's not presidential," Trump recalled his wife saying. "She actually said, could you imagine FDR dancing? She said that to me. And I said, there's a long history that perhaps she doesn't know."

"Because he was an elegant fellow, even as a Democrat, right? The attack by Japan, you know, he was quite elegant, but he wouldn't be doing this, but, but, nor would too many others, but she says, darling, please."

Roosevelt began using a wheelchair in 1922 after being diagnosed with polio.