In the run-up to an election, a Republican president typically wouldn’t be campaigning in these traditionally red states. These aren’t normal times, however, and Donald Trump, an unpopular president leading an unpopular party, has held rallies in those states in the last week, seeking to drum up support. But a series of eccentric performances from the president means his behavior has been the focus, rather than any of the candidates he is backing.
Trump, 80, has used his appearances to muse about animals’ opposition to the second amendment, to call one Republican candidate “nerdy”, and to demonstrate a hitherto unexpressed fascination with “asses” – men’s and babies’, in particular. Along the way Trump has repeated his lie that 2020 was a rigged election, claimed, falsely, that he has secured $21tn in foreign investment in the US, and issued dark warnings about Democrats. Trump was supposed to be in Syracuse to support Bruce Blakeman, the Republican candidate for New York governor, whom he introduced to the crowd in a confusing way.
Trump told the crowd of Blakeman: “I’ve just known him just for a second. I’ve known him for a long time, years.” Aside from his entirely contradictory explanation of his relationship with Blakeman, Trump went on to claim that, in New York: “You can no longer say: ‘Mother – hi, mom’. It’s: ‘Hi gestating – hi, gestating.
I love you so much, gestating.’” People are still allowed to say mother in New York. Trump continued by talking about one of the things closest to his heart, spending 15 minutes complaining about how he did not win the Nobel peace prize, despite having “settled eight wars”. I called them up, I said: ‘If you guys don’t stop killing each other I’m going to charge you 250% in tariffs and we’re not going to trade with you.
They said no, no, no, you cannot do that. I said, yes, I can,” Trump said. India has repeatedly denied that a ceasefire was reached because of any intervention from Trump.
A day later, Trump appeared in Clarksville. There, he adopted a strange method of talking to the audience, saying there was “such love”, before adding: “I mean, it’s amazing. When you stand up here, it’s just like… the love.
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