Donald Trump made multiple humiliating mistakes during a rambling campaign speech in Nebraska.
The 80-year-old president is desperately trying to shore up his MAGA base ahead of the crucial November 3 midterm elections, but his popularity is plummeting, with CNN analyst Harry Enten saying he is now “the least popular Republican president since Herbert Hoover.”
During his speech Monday, personally campaigning for Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and Sen. Pete Ricketts, Trump stumbled over his words when he stepped away from the teleprompter and even got awkwardly lost while leaving the stage.
At one point, Trump looked directly at the teleprompter and urged MAGA voters to support Pillen and criticized the governor’s opponent, Lynne Walz, calling her a “crazy relative of the disgraced Minnesota governor…”
Trump paused, then went off-script with his own insults, adding: “Probably, and I’ve had bad governors, probably the worst governor in history, Jim Walz.”
After apparently confusing Jim Pillen with Tim Walz, Minnesota governor and former vice presidential candidate, Trump attempted quick damage control, adding, “Tim Walz is, is the worst.” »
Walz and Trump are regular enemies, with the Minnesota governor criticizing Trump for the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good by federal immigration agents.
Lynne Walz is a distant cousin by marriage of Tim Walz, through her husband Chris Walz, a third cousin of the governor of Minnesota.
“He’s a disaster, just like his uncle or whatever,” Trump said of the Walzes. “They come from a bad lineage.”
During a nearly 90-minute speech, Trump also stumbled when trying to describe the giant screens he said had been placed outside the Pinnacle Bank Expo Center in Grand Island, Nebraska.
“We just put up the big, uh, big, uh, tele… telerons or whatever they call it,” Trump said.
Someone must have corrected the president that it was a “Teletron,” the name for the video screens used in stadiums.
At another point in his speech, Trump tried to distract attention from rising gas prices from his war with Iran.
Claiming that a “record number of barrels” are coming out of the Strait of Hormuz, Trump said: “I mean, we bring in ship after ship, every once in a while they launch a little missile. We go ‘Bing,’ that’s the end of the missile. We knock it out. Is that really cool?”
Trump talked about “foreign countries” that America allowed to use American technology to shoot down missiles, but cited user errors.
“You have to be a little smart about this one. It’s not for bodybuilders,” Trump said, bizarrely pretending to pump iron.
Pointing to his head, he said, “That’s for a different type of bodybuilder here.”
At the end of the speech, Trump seemed to forget the fact that a curtain had been opened slightly to allow him to leave the stage.
The president walked past where the curtain had been drawn for him, with security officers visible and appearing to be waiting for him.
Instead, Trump clapped and gave a thumbs-up as he walked across the stage to his signature song, the Village People’s “YMCA.”
Other Secret Service agents followed Trump as he walked down the stage before finding another exit.
Right Side Broadcast Network host Toria Brooke exclaimed, “Wow, what a rally” at the end of Trump’s epic speech as he hesitated to come out.
She then added: “I mean…” before becoming speechless, apparently experiencing technical difficulties, before looking at her phone and repeating “Wow, what a rally.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
Gn headline
