‘A great compliment’: Donald Trump claims people told him he looks like Elvis

He’s been compared to everything from a Dorito to a carrot and a giant baby in the past, but now US president Donald Trump has sensationally claimed that when he was growing up folks told him he looked like Elvis Presley. 

Speaking at a rally in Tupelo, Mississippi, which was Elvis’s hometown, the president delighted the crowd with his recollections of being compared to the musical heartthrob throughout his youth. 

“I am thrilled to be back in Tupelo! I love Tupelo,” the former Apprentice star told the crowd. “Home of thousands of hardworking American patriots and the proud birthplace of the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis.”

He continued: “I shouldn’t say this. You’ll say I’m very conceited cause I’m not. But other than the blonde hair, when I was growing up, they said I looked like Elvis.”

Pres. Trump, in Tupelo, MS, the birthplace of Elvis Presley: "Other than the blonde hair, when I was growing up they said I looked like Elvis…I always considered that a great compliment." https://t.co/NkJuIoh4fP pic.twitter.com/uBAzhWwA9G

— ABC News (@ABC) November 26, 2018

The crowd burst into laughter before Trump continued with his story.

“Can you see that? Can you believe that?” he asked the attendees of the rally. “I always consider that a great compliment. We love Elvis, don’t we?”

Trump went on to explain that he gave Elvis the Medal of Freedom award at the White House earlier this month when he awarded president and CEO of Elvis Presley Enterprises, Jack Soden, the Presidential Medal of Freedom on behalf of Elvis on November 16. During his speech at the ceremony, Trump spoke highly about the singer who passed away in 1977.

Read more: It’s 62 years since Elvis topped the charts with Hound Dog

He described Presley as “something special” and pointed out the three decades of hits he provided the music industry. He also explained how Elvis served in the US military at the height of his fame and that he’d starred in more than 30 films during his life.

The president also recalled one of the times he was there to witness the pandemonium that surrounded Elvis. 

“In fact, at the end of a performance, oftentimes the fans would go so wild — I was there once in Las Vegas, at the Hilton,” he recalled. “The fans were ripping the place apart, screaming. They were going crazy. And they announced, ‘Elvis has left the house.’

“If they didn’t say that, I think I’d still be there. Maybe I wouldn’t be here. But they had to do that. ‘Elvis has gone. Elvis has left.’”

The president was seemingly referring to the famous phrase, “Elvis has left the building”. 

What are your thoughts on Donald Trump’s claims? Do you think he looked like Elvis when he was younger?”