Montana, Tennessee, Alaska. In the run-up to an election, a Republican president would not normally campaign in these traditionally red states. These are not normal times, however, and Donald Trump, an unpopular president leading an unpopular party, has held rallies in those states over the past week, seeking to drum up support. But a series of eccentric performances by the president mean his behavior has been the center of attention, rather than any of the candidates he endorses. Trump, 80, has used his appearances to reflect on animals’ opposition to the Second Amendment, to call a Republican candidate a “nerd” and to demonstrate a heretofore unspoken fascination with “butts,” particularly those of men and babies. It is false that he has secured $21 trillion in foreign investment in the United States 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 governor of New York, whom he introduced to the crowd in a confusing manner. Trump told the Blakeman crowd: “I’ve only known him for a second. I’ve known him for a long time, years.” Aside from his completely contradictory explanation of his relationship with Blakeman, Trump went on to claim that, in New York: “You can’t say anymore, ‘Mother, hello, Mom.’ It’s, ‘Hello, gestating, hello, gestating. I love you so much, gestating.'” People are still allowed to say mother in New York. Trump continued to talk about one. “One of the things closest to his heart, he spent 15 minutes complaining about how he didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize, despite having “solved eight wars.” “Pakistan and India. I called them and said, ‘If you 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, they can’t do that. I told them, yes, I can,” Trump said. India has repeatedly denied that a ceasefire was reached because of any intervention by Trump. Donald Trump in Clarksville, Tennessee. Photograph: Seth Herald/Reuters A day later, Trump appeared in Clarksville. There, he adopted a strange method of speaking to the audience, saying there was “so much love,” before adding: “I mean, it’s incredible. When you’re here, it’s like… love. He could say the stupidest things and you applaud: “Oh, I love you so much…” Trump continued: “It’s true. But we don’t say the stupidest things. We say common sense things. We say things that make sense and we’re probably mostly conservative, but it’s really not. It’s common sense things.” Trump with his 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 in college. 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 looked up and down. I looked at her butt and looked at the outfit, and then looked at her hands. Look at his hands. He’s like claws.” Trump later praised Husted, 59, for having a good jaw, before turning his attention to insulting immigrants from Somalia. Trump claimed such people “come from a part of the world that only knows how to kill each other” and said people in Somalia had “low IQs” and “don’t have pants to wear.” Trump in Wasilla. Photograph: Evan Vucci/Reuters Trump was in Alaska to rally support for Dan Sullivan. However, the candidate Democrat Mary Peltola is running neck-and-neck with Sullivan, something that led Trump to call Peltola, a former Native American tribal judge, “a nutcase.” — and I don’t know how this works and why it’s an expression, but used well, that means you’re as clean as a newborn baby’s bottom,” Trump said. He added about that phrase: “I never understood that. Why is it so clean? But they, they, felt that that was the definition of cleanliness.” a member of the Arizona House of Representatives seeking higher office. “Everyone should also get out and vote for Alex Kolodin, an election integrity warrior, as your next Secretary of State,” Trump said. “Alex, good luck. You look good. Actually, central casting. You want a secretary of state to look exactly like that, a little nerdy, and that’s good.” It was reminiscent of Trump’s repeated complaints about Ken Paxton, his chosen candidate for the US Senate in Texas. Trump has repeatedly said he doesn’t like the way Paxton speaks, dresses or looks. During his remarks, Trump also managed to ramp up questions about his health, insult another person he knows, and let the crowd know that her life was less important than his. “I travel with more doctors than any human being. If people in the public get sick, they don’t get sick, they leave them alone,” Trump said. “Do you know what they call them? Collateral damage. If that person over there, a friend of mine, looks like shit, actually looks, looks like he’s about to have a heart attack. If he really had a heart attack, do you know what my doctors would do to follow the president, all the presidents? “They’d leave him alone. I would say please help him. No, sir, we cannot leave your side. I said, but he’s dying of a heart attack. Sir, it’s collateral damage. Can you believe it? They have like six ambulances and they won’t use one for anyone else. Anyway, but let’s hope we never have that problem.” scenario in Montana. Photograph: Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty ImagesTrump made a rather desperate plea to voters, invoking the old Republican fear that Democrats will ban guns, something that is not a Democratic Party position at all. “You know who would love to see that happen? Some of the wild animals you have here that like to eat 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 said, ‘When you walk in the woods, do you always carry a gun, Tim?’ He said, “Actually, actually, yes.” I said, ‘What about you, Steve?’ He said, “Yes, we are smart people.” “You know, the animals would be very, very happy to see you without weapons. They would gain a lot of weight. And they would leave law-abiding Americans defenseless while they unleash savage criminals on their communities.” And with two weeks left until the midterm elections, there will be more appearances to come.
