Trump praises Ohio Senator’s physique at rally

Published: 08:42 EDT, 13 October 2026 | Updated: 08:42 EDT, 13 October 2026

Donald Trump gushed over Senator Jon Husted’s backside on Monday night, admitting to an Ohio rally crowd that he had looked the Republican up and down. ‘I’m standing over here, and I don’t do this with men very often,’ the president said in Youngstown, with Husted in the audience. ‘I started examining his body because I didn’t know he was a great athlete, and I looked, and I watched up and down.’ ‘I looked at his [expletive], and I looked at the whole, and then I looked at his hands,’ Trump added as the crowd roared with laughter. He then marveled at the senator’s grip, declaring: ‘He’s got these like claws.’

The bizarre riff came as Trump faces the real possibility of losing both the House and the Senate in three weeks, forcing him onto a punishing run of rallies in red states to shore up support. Husted, who was appointed to fill JD Vance’s old seat, trails Democrat Sherrod Brown by several points among likely Ohio voters, according to multiple polls. With his approval ratings at record lows, Trump has been urging supporters to back his endorsed candidates as if his own name were on the ballot.

Trump’s body rant was caused by former Super Bowl-winning coach Jon Gruden, who introduced Trump and told him he had played college football with Husted. The pair were teammates on the Dayton Flyers in 1985, where Husted was an All-American defensive back. Trump recalled asking Gruden what he was doing there, expecting him to say he had come for the president, only to be told: ‘I’m here for my teammate.’ Asked whether Husted was any good, Gruden replied: ‘He was the best player on the team.’ Later in the speech, Trump attacked Brown because he ‘wants to have men playing in women’s sports,’ then suggested putting Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham on a men’s team. Protesters interrupted him again and again, and Trump fired back with insults at their physical appearance, saying of one heckler: ‘He’s a fat guy.’

When Husted later joined him on stage, Trump told the crowd: ‘Wow, he’s really changed since you all learned how great an athlete he was.’ He then said hitting the senator on the back had hurt his hand, concluding: ‘He’s like a piece of steel.’ Later in his speech, Trump also praised Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who recent polling shows is struggling to fend off his Democratic opponent. Trump has won Ohio in every one of his three presidential runs, including by 11 points in 2024, and is credited with building the working-class coalition that turned the state red.

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