Wait, what? Eric Trump says he is ‘part of the LGBT community,’ sowing confusion online

During an appearance on Fox News, Donald Trump’s son Eric said that he was a ‘part of the LGBT community’ supporting his father. This confused online observers, who went on to riff on the idea of him ‘coming out’ on live TV.

During a Tuesday morning segment, the younger Trump was asked by Fox hosts if he was aware that some members of the LGBT community supported his father in the upcoming election, but felt they had to keep quiet about it, fearing public shaming.

“The LGBT community, they are incredible,” Eric Trump responded. He added that LGBT voters “come out in full force” for his father “every single day.” “I’m part of that community,” he then said, without skipping a beat, “and we love the man, and thank you for protecting our neighborhoods and thank you for protecting our cities.”

The president’s son’s nonchalant way of pronouncing the last sentence caused massive confusion online, coupled with some sincere speculation and lots of jokes.

In jest, some commenters played it off as Trump’s unusual way to ‘come out of the closet,’ supposedly revealing he was gay on a conservative talk show.

Another common quip was that Eric Trump may have interpreted the Q in LGBTQ to mean ‘QAnon,’ the far-right conspiracy theory group, that valorizes his father as being embattled in a political shadow war against a cabal of pedophiles.

Unfortunately, however, Washington Post reporter Dave Weigel might have just untangled Trump’s headscratch-inducing turn of phrase. In his opinion the president’ son was trying to quote an LGBT Trump supporter and the “I’m part of that community” line was "coming from the hypothetical person he talked to.”

According to Gallup polling, the LGBT community comprises some 4.5 percent of the US population. Traditionally it is considered to be the Democratic Party’s voting bloc, however, Republican Donald Trump has made some plays at LGBT voters. Back in August the president was mocked online for allegedly pandering to the group by retweeting an ad, in which former Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, an openly gay man, claimed Trump was the "most pro-gay president in American history."

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