Donald Trump has made multiple humiliating errors during a rambling campaign speech in Nebraska.
The 80-year-old president is desperately trying to shore up his MAGA base before critical midterm elections on Nov. 3, but his popularity is in freefall, with CNN analyst Harry Enten saying he is now “the least popular Republican president since Herbert Hoover.”
During his Monday speech, to personally campaign for Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and Sen. Pete Ricketts, Trump tripped over his words when he deviated from the teleprompter and even got awkwardly lost leaving the stage.
At one point, Trump looked directly at the teleprompter and urged MAGA voters to support Pillen and slammed the governor’s opponent, Lynne Walz, saying she is a “crazy relative of disgraced Minnesota governor...”
Trump paused, then went off-script to ad-lib with his own insults, adding, “Probably, and I’ve known some bad governors, probably the worst governor in history, Jim Walz.”
After seemingly getting Jim Pillen mixed up with Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor and former vice-presidential candidate, Trump attempted quick damage control, adding, “Tim Walz is, is the worst.”
Walz and Trump are regular foes, with the Minnesota governor calling out Trump over the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good by federal immigration agents.
Lynne Walz is a distant cousin by marriage to Tim Walz, through her husband Chris Walz, a third cousin of the Minnesota governor.
“She’s a disaster, just like her uncle or whatever the hell he is,” Trump said of the Walzes. “They come from a bad bloodline.”
During a near-90-minute speech, Trump also stumbled when he tried to describe giant screens he said had been placed outside the Pinnacle Bank Expo Center in Grand Island, Nebraska.
“We just put up the big, uh, the big, uh, tele... telerons or whatever the hell they call it,” Trump said.
Someone had to correct the president, telling him it was a “Teletron,” the name of video screens used in stadiums.
At another point in his speech, Trump tried to deflect the rising cost of gas from his war on Iran.
Claiming that “record numbers of barrels” are coming out of the Strait of Hormuz, Trump said, “I mean, we’re bringing in ship after ship, every once in a while, they throw a little missile. We go ‘Bing’, that’s the end of the missile. We knock it out. How cool is that?”
Trump talked about “foreign countries” that America has allowed to use U.S. technology to shoot down missiles, but discussed user error.
“You gotta be a little smart for that one. That’s not for bodybuilders,” Trump said, bizarrely pretending to pump iron.
Pointing to his head, he said, “That’s for a different kind of bodybuilder up here.”
At the end of the speech, Trump appeared to miss the fact that a curtain had been slightly opened for him to exit the stage.
The president walked past where the curtain had been pulled aside for him, with security officers visible and seemingly waiting for him.
Instead, Trump clapped and gave the thumbs-up sign as he wandered the length of the whole stage to his signature tune, the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.”
Further Secret Service agents can be seen following Trump as he aimlessly wandered down the stage before finding another exit.
The Right Side Broadcast Network host Toria Brooke gushed, “Wow, what a rally,” at the end of Trump’s epic speech as he fumbled his exit.
She then added, “I mean....” before going speechless, seemingly having technical difficulties, before looking at her phone and repeating “Wow, what a rally.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
