Kathrine Frich
He kept pronouncing the word wrong over and over again.
Political rallies are usually carefully scripted events designed to highlight serious policy differences for the cameras.
But sometimes those prepared notes get tossed aside in favor of schoolyard insults.
One recent political gathering took a very strange detour into the world of dietary choices.
Struggling with words
Donald Trump recently took the stage in Texas to rally his supporters ahead of the midterm elections.
According to the Irish Star, the former president spent a portion of his speech attacking Democratic State Representative James Talarico. He repeatedly and falsely claimed the local politician does not eat meat.
The political attacks themselves did not surprise the audience. What actually caught people off guard was how the politician pronounced the word vegan.
Trump continually referred to a plant-based diet as being a “vaygan”, drawing both cheers from his fans and deep confusion online.
A salad of insults
The Republican leader gave the crowd a bizarre explanation of the lifestyle.
He told his supporters, “When I see that Talafreako in Texas. So he’s been vaygan all his life. He’s a vaygan vaygan. I didn’t even know what the hell a vaygan was. A vaygan is a vegetable. A vaygan is eating a piece of lettuce all day long.”
He then painted a vivid picture of his political rival faking a love for traditional barbecue.
Trump added, “Vaygans don’t get elected in Texas. So now, he’s out and he’s telling people, ‘no I actually love meat’, and he goes to barbecues all the time because he wants to show that he eats meat. But what they don’t show is that he’s going to the back of the tent and throwing up all over the place.”
Voters hit back
Videos of the unusual speech quickly spread across social media platform X. Online observers did not hold back their criticism of the rally.
One frustrated user commented, “Are all eight-years-old? Wtf is this ridiculous schoolyard bully name-calling? People can’t pay their bills, asswipe!”
Another person simply asked why nobody on his staff has corrected his pronunciation.
The Irish Star notes that Republicans have pushed this fake dietary narrative for months. Senator Ted Cruz even mocked the Democrat on a podcast by comparing him to a talking soy latte.
The final word
Talarico ultimately brushed off the weird dietary rumors with a very sharp comeback. He took a quick shot at the Republican leadership.
The Democrat responded, “I’m an eighth generation Texan. I’ve been eating BBQ since before Ken Paxton’s first indictment.”
