Vice President JD Vance pulled an awkward move at his rally on Wednesday by acknowledging Donald Trump’s weird obsession with one GOP candidate’s physique.
The 80-year-old president has repeatedly brought up Ohio Senator Jon Husted’s “a--” at a series of campaign rallies in recent weeks, not just in the senator’s state but across the country.
Vance was campaigning for Ohio Republicans on Wednesday afternoon and joked about the president’s strange comments.
“What could I possibly say about Jon Husted that Donald J. Trump has not already said?” Vance told the group of MAGA supporters. “Don’t worry, I’m not talking about Jon Husted’s a--. I’m not talking about it.”
The Republican Ohio senator, who is facing one of the most competitive races this midterm cycle, was in the crowd for the remarks.
This comes after the president has repeatedly brought up the senator’s physique on the campaign trail, including as recently as Tuesday, during his rally in North Carolina, when he jumped from one random subject to another.
“I’m studying his body. I’ve never studied the body of a man before. It’s not my thing. Nothing wrong with it, of course. I’ve always proceeded by saying nothing wrong,” Trump rambled. “But it’s never been my thing to be honest with you. But I looked at his a--. And then I looked at his legs.”
“I said, ‘His a--, shhhh, it’s like a pile of muscle,’ Trump continued, gesturing to his rearend. ”Then I looked at his legs, and I said, ‘Man, his feet are big.’ Then I looked at his shoulders, and I tapped him on the shoulder, and I actually hurt my hand. It was like a piece of steel. I said, ‘This guy’s a monster.’"
But the president previously gushed over Husted’s body at another rally in Ohio just last week, where he said he didn’t know Husted was a football player at the University of Dayton.
“I’m standing over there, and I don’t do this with men very often. I started examining his body because I didn’t know he was a great athlete. And I looked, and I watched up and down, and I looked at his a--, and I looked at the whole,” Trump said.
“And then I looked at his hands, looked at his hands. He’s got these, like claws, and I got it,” Trump said. “You are a great athlete. I didn’t know that,” Trump added before shifting gears.
While Republicans have been playing up Husted’s physique, his polling numbers have been down.
The latest Marist poll showed Democratic candidate Sherrod Brown up four points, 48 percent to 44 percent, while the Cook Political Report poll showed Brown up six points, 49 percent to 43 percent.
