What *Did* Donald Trump Mean by “No PP”?

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


As you’ll recall, after forgetting what “TPP” meant in a speech last night, Donald Trump smirked and made a little joke to his audience: What you mean is, “No PP.” Or, perhaps, “no pee pee.” But what did he mean? Readers have offered three suggestions:

  1. It’s some kind of reference to the trans bathroom controversy.
  2. It’s some kind of cryptic reference to his penis size and capabilities.
  3. It’s an obnoxious and juvenile reference to a conservative joke that Hillary Clinton is incontinent.

#1 seems unlikely to me. I just don’t see it. #2 is not out of the question. We certainly know that Donald is puerile enough to think this would be funny. But it seems a little too obscure for the situation. That leaves #3, which is a cretinous “joke” that refers to a photoshopped picture circulated on Facebook by the fever swamp right a few weeks ago. It’s quite possible that Donald recently saw it and thought it was so hilarious he just had to share. After all, we already know that Trump finds the mere thought of Hillary Clinton taking a bathroom break during a debate “disgusting.”

Anyway, that’s that. It’s my best guess until someone asks him about this.

POSTSCRIPT: Another possibility: it was short for “No Planned Parenthood.” That doesn’t seem likely to me, but really, with Donald who the hell knows?

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

payment methods

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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