Montana, Tennessee, Alaska. 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. Let’s take a look.
Trump in Syracuse, New York, last week. Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
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”.
“Pakistan and India. 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.
Donald Trump in Clarksville, Tennessee. Photograph: Seth Herald/Reuters
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. I could say the stupidest things and you clap: “Oh, I love you so … .’”
Trump continued: “It’s true. But we don’t say the stupidest things. We say things of common sense. We say things that make sense, and we probably are mostly conservative, but it’s not really conservative. It’s things of common sense.”
Trump with supporters in Youngstown. Photograph: Gene J Puskar/AP
Speaking in Ohio, Trump said he had recently learned that Jon Husted, the Republican senator running for re-election in the state, played football at university.
Trump continued: “I don’t do this with men very often. I started examining [Husted’s] body, because I didn’t know he was a great athlete. And I looked and I watched up and down. I looked at his ass and I looked at the whole – and then I looked at his hands. Look at his hands. He’s got these, like, claws.”
Later, Trump praised Husted, 59, for having a good jawline, before turning his attention to insulting immigrants from Somalia. Trump claimed that those people “come from a part of the world that only knows how to kill each other” and said that in Somalia people were “low IQ” and “don’t have pants to wear”.
Trump in Wasilla. Photograph: Evan Vucci/Reuters
Trump was in Alaska to rally support for Dan Sullivan, the Republican senator. It was revealing that he was there at all: this should be deep red territory. Yet the Democratic candidate, Mary Peltola, is running neck and neck against Sullivan, something which prompted Trump to call Peltola, a native American former tribal judge, “a whack job”.
During a meandering speech, Trump also granted pardons, on stage, to two Alaska auto shop owners, who previously pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Air Act.
“When you give somebody a pardon, they say that means – and I don’t know how this works and why it’s an expression, but it’s well used, that means you’re as clean as a newborn baby’s ass,” Trump said.
He added of that phrase: “I never understood that. Why is that so clean? But they – they – they felt that was the definition of cleanliness.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump in Bullhead City, Arizona. Photograph: Ian Maule/Bloomberg via Getty Images
After praising Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the emir of Qatar, as “young” and “handsome” (Sheikh Tamim is 46), Trump turned his attention the Arizona Republicans he was in Bullhead City to support, including Alex Kolodin, a member of the Arizona house of representatives who is seeking higher office.
“Everybody also needs to get out and vote for Alex Kolodin, a warrior for election integrity, as your next secretary of state,” Trump said.
“Alex, good luck. You look good. Central casting, actually. You want a secretary of state to look exactly like that, a little bit nerdy, and that’s good.”
It was reminiscent of Trump’s repeated complaints about Ken Paxton, his handpicked nominee for US Senate in Texas. Trump has repeatedly said he does not like how Paxton talks, dresses, or looks.
During his remarks, Trump also managed to add to questions about his health, insult yet another person he knows, and let the crowd know their life was less important than his.
“I travel with more doctors than any human being. If people get sick in the audience, they don’t – they leave them alone,” Trump said.
“You know what they call them? Collateral damage. If that person right over there, a friend of mine – he looks like shit, actually, he looks – he looks like he’s ready to have a heart attack. If he actually had a heart attack, you know what my doctors would do that follow the president, all presidents?
“They would leave him alone. I’d say please help him. No, sir, we can’t leave your side. I said but he’s dying of a heart attack. Sir, he’s collateral damage. Can you believe it? They got, like, six ambulances and they won’t use one for anybody else. Anyway – but let’s hope we never have that problem.”
Trump walks off stage in Montana. Photograph: Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images
Trump made a fairly desperate plea to voters, invoking the long-time Republican fear-mongering that Democrats will ban guns – something which is very much not a position of the Democratic party.
“You know who would love that to happen? Some of the wild animals you have up here that like – that like eating you,” Trump said.
“We talked about that with Tim [Sheehy, US senator for Montana] and Steve [Daines, the other US senator for Montana] on the plane. That was my first question, I say: ‘When you walk out in the woods here, do you always have a gun, Tim?’ He said: ‘Actually – actually, yes.’ I said: ‘What about you, Steve?’ He said: ‘Yes, we’re intelligent people.’
“You know, the animals would be very, very happy to see you without guns. They would gain a lot of weight. And leave the law-abiding Americans defenseless while they set loose the savage criminals into your communities.”
Even for a president known for eccentricities, Trump’s fascination with backsides, the appearance of his friends, and animals, has raised eyebrows. And with two weeks to go until the midterm elections, there will be more appearances to come.