BUTT OF THE JOKE

MAGA Candidate Loses Despite Trump Thirsting Over His A**

The Republican got a temporary bump after the president focused on his backside.

Donald Trump’s bizarre strategy to boost a MAGA candidate by thirsting over his body has failed spectacularly, with Democrats pulling off a stunning Senate comeback in Ohio against the Republican incumbent.

In another humiliation for the president, Republican Senator Jon Husted lost his seat to Sherrod Brown on Tuesday night as the Democrats reclaimed control of the U.S. Congress.

Trump made Husted’s race a personal priority, repeatedly praising his physical attributes and drawing attention to his backside in an unusual attempt to sell the former college football star to voters.

“I started examining his body, because I didn’t know he was a great athlete,” the 80-year-old president told his amused fans at a rally in Ohio on October 12. “I looked at his a--.”

Ohio-based Republican operatives told the Daily Beast that Husted had been facing an enthusiasm gap among voters before Trump traveled to Youngstown, Ohio, on October 12 and began raving about Husted.

After that, insiders say, Husted got a bump in various polls, and MAGA voters became more enthused about him—a shift that was relayed to the president.

But the president’s constant musings about Husted proved no match for Brown’s appeal among working-class Ohioans.

Brown’s victory marks a remarkable return for the former senator, who lost his seat to Republican Bernie Moreno in 2024 after three terms representing Ohio in Washington.

His campaign focused on economic anxiety, working-class voters, and the cost of living, arguing that Republicans had failed to deliver on Trump’s promises.

Barack Obama added his star power to the campaign, describing him at a rally in Ohio last week as someone who is “always challenging the status quo, always taking on the system.”

Husted, meanwhile, was appointed to the Senate in January 2025 after JD Vance became vice president. He had enjoyed the backing of Trump and Vance, both of whom campaigned on his behalf.

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The president had personally invested in the race, repeatedly promoting Husted’s prospects and making the Ohio contest a test of his political influence in a state he won comfortably in 2024.

“In my professional opinion it’s safe to say that Trump’s opinion of candidates’ f--kability seems to have zero impact on their electability,” said Sarah McCammon, a senior fellow from center-left think tank Third Way.

Others hit out at the fact that Husted was supported by tech billionaires.

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“There is nothing less popular right now than selling out your community to the AI oligarchs, and there’s nothing more popular than taking a strong stand against this legalized corruption,” said Shaunna Thomas, Executive Director of Guardrails Alliance.

The result will be especially painful for Republicans given Ohio’s rightward shift in recent presidential elections.

Ohio used to be a political bellwether until Trump won the state at the 2016 presidential election.

Tripling Down

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It has since been reliably Republican, but polls last week had Brown leading Husted by about three to four points.

Some GOP strategists fear that the backlash over gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy could spill over into the Senate race, too.

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Ramaswamy ignited a firestorm last week over a vicious attack ad against his Democratic rival Amy Acton.

The ad featured Acton’s estranged mother calling her a liar—but what it didn’t explain to viewers was that the pair hadn’t spoken in decades after Acton’s mother sided with her stepfather, who had raped her as a child.

“We’ve seen there’s no line he won’t cross, no low he won’t sink to, to try to get in the limelight,” said former president Barack Obama, who campaigned for Brown and Acton in Ohio this month.

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Farrah TomazinPolitical Correspondent

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