NEWSJimmy Kimmel Turns Donald Trump's 'Crooked' Stance Into a Punchline as Experts Debate What the President's Posture Reveals
Jimmy Kimmel mocked Donald Trump’s posture while discussing the president’s AI announcement.
Oct. 3 2026, Published 1:09 p.m. ET
Jimmy Kimmel found two targets in President Donald Trump’s announcement that the federal government would begin calling artificial intelligence “super intelligence”: the new terminology and Trump’s posture while unveiling it.
“Look at how weirdly he stands while he does this,” Kimmel said before playing footage in which Trump’s knee appeared to bend inward as he twisted at an awkward angle.
“Even his posture is crooked,” Kimmel joked. “Everything about him.”
A Freeze-Frame Becomes a Verdict
Jimmy Kimmel highlighted Donald Trump’s unusual stance as footage showed him leaning at an awkward angle.
“A posture clip feels like evidence,” said Sean Johns, nonverbal-intelligence expert and founder of BodyLytics. “People believe they’re seeing something the person can’t hide, and that feels more honest than anything he says.”
Comedy can make that impression seem more definitive than it is.
A nonverbal-intelligence expert warned that a brief posture clip could not establish a diagnosis.
“A comedy edit adds a freeze-frame and a laugh track, and a two-second lean becomes a verdict,” Johns explained. “The audience laughs and leaves thinking a diagnosis has been made. It hasn’t.”
He said posture can offer clues about “comfort, confidence, fatigue” and how someone is responding to a setting, but cannot establish a medical condition.
“A stoop might be a bad back, a long flight, or a man who has stood that way for forty years,” Johns said. “You can’t tell which from a clip.”
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What Donald Trump's Gestures Communicated
Body-language analysis identified several gestures that were interpreted as possible signs of discomfort.
Body-language expert Jan Hargrave identified signs of discomfort during Trump’s appearance, including an “accordion hand gesture.”
“The manner in which he performs this gesture is labeled ‘incongruence’ in body language. He keeps his arms near his body (this indicates insecurity) then fans his hands out in an accordion manner,” Hargrave explained.
She said the gesture could signal an attempt to “expand the truth,” to “make everything look bigger,” or even just that he is “uncomfortable and improvising.”
“His slumped shoulders represent those of a ‘follower,’ not those of a ‘leader,’” she revealed, adding that his “irregular shoulder shrug and lowered chin” and “sucking air through the mouth” may indicate “deceptive” behavior.
Hargrave also observed Trump making a “steeple” by bringing his fingertips together, typically interpreted as a sign of confidence. Because he held the gesture near his lap rather than his chest, however, she said its placement “diminishes the ‘air of confidence’ that it typically represents.”
The Joke Extends to 'Super Intelligence'
Jimmy Kimmel also mocked the ‘super intelligence’ announcement after a document misspelled ‘United States.’
Trump announced the terminology change after meeting technology executives at the White House.
The resulting “White House Accord on Super Intelligence” identified him beneath his signature as “President of the Unites States.”
“Could there ever be a better metaphor for this presidency than misspelling United States on a document about super intelligence?” Kimmel asked.
