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Donald Trump’s latest rally appearance was ridiculed after the president denounced his “love of meat” while attacking Texas Senate candidate James Talarico.
Trump held two midterm campaign events Tuesday in Lubbock and Corpus Christi, in the Lone Star State, in support of Republican Ken Paxton. During his interventions, he speculated on Talarico’s recent absence from the electoral campaign due to illness.
The president referenced the baseless MAGA conspiracy theory that Talarico’s “disappearance” was actually due to a mental health issue before offering his own version.
“I think he got meat poisoning because he can’t stand it,” the president told his audience in Corpus Christi.
“You’ve ever seen him go to a barbecue and he’s trying to show, ‘I love meat! Ahhh – I love it. Look.’ And then you see it. Where is he? He’s behind the tent throwing up. He’s sick as a dog.”
Trump made a series of hand gestures imitating the Democrat who was reluctantly eating meat.
He then turned to an anecdote about first lady Melania Trump correcting his pronunciation of “vegan,” saying he didn’t know because: “I really like meat.”
“He’s vegan and there’s nothing he can do about it,” he insisted of Talarico, who has regularly denied being vegan.
Social media was quick to react to the president’s performance, which comes as he faces plummeting approval ratings and gloomy predictions for the midterm elections.
“This can’t be real life,” one person wrote on X, marveling at the latest incident, which followed Trump’s recent admiring comments about the physical attributes of Ohio Republican Sen. John Husted and rapper Nicki Minaj.
Another posted a meme of the president carved from raw meat, which he captioned “Introducing Trump Steak,” a reference to an actual product the mogul once named after himself.
“I’m crying!…Noises and hand gestures don’t help, Donnie,” another X user said.
Others saw things differently, with one disgruntled Trump supporter suggesting: “He’s trying to sell us his Argentinian meat that was rejected by China due to its carcinogens.” »
Earlier in the evening, the president warned the crowd that Texas would “stop meat, you stop oil” if Talarico beat Paxton next week.
He also suggested that his own supporters might not be able to afford a hamburger at Mar-a-Lago, saying of his own Florida home: “Don’t go there. It’s not a good place…if you’re price conscious.”
Trump has repeatedly made the false claim that Talarico privately despised meat.
During an appearance at the Peterbilt Motors Company manufacturing plant in Denton, Texas, on Oct. 1, he said of the Democrat, for whom he has many nicknames: “You’re a monster. Notice the way all of a sudden he’s eating meat?”
“He doesn’t eat meat. He’s a vegan, and you know what a vegan is? You know what he does after he eats? He vomits. He gets rid of meat.”
He also joked about Talarico vomiting during a dinner on the White House terrace on September 3, adding: “In Texas, if you don’t eat meat, you’re in big trouble.”
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