Kathrine Frich
Trump himself is classified as overweight.
Campaign rallies in the final weeks before an election always bring out loud crowds and high emotion.
Politicians travel from town to town hoping to fire up local voters and build momentum at the ballot box.
Sometimes, though, the scene inside the arena turns ugly fast.
Chaos in the crowd
During a midterm rally at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown, Ohio, a fight broke out while President Donald Trump was speaking, the Irish Star reported. Cameras caught a male rallygoer shoving a female protester to the floor, punching her in the face, and yanking her hair.
As the attack happened, the president mistook the woman for a man and claimed she was a “paid protester” hired by “the lefties in order to destroy our country. They’re scum.” He then told the cheering arena that “he’s going back home to mom.”
Police soon led the demonstrator out as she raised a middle finger at the crowd. “Oh, he’s gotta go on a diet,” Trump remarked from the stage, according to the Irish Star. “He’s a fat guy, wow!” the president added before saying, “Gotta go on a diet fast, we all do!”
Online outrage grows
The ugly scene quickly drew sharp reactions online, the Irish Star noted. One social media user wrote, “MAGA a–h— only like free speech when they’re screaming at everyone.”
Others mocked the president over his own White House medical records, which classify him as overweight.
“Well, Trump does know a fat person when he sees one… Just never in a mirror,” one critic posted, while another added, “Being called fat by Trump is like being called ugly by an aardvark.”
A tough Ohio race
Beyond the arena brawl, Republicans face a steep climb ahead of the midterms after a judge ordered the administration to pull taxpayer-funded ads praising Trump’s second term. “We’re taking nothing for granted here,” Mason Di Palma of the Republican State Leadership Committee told News5Cleveland.
“There are people out here saying, ‘I trust Republicans, but I don’t feel it in my wallet yet,'” Di Palma explained. “You’ve got to portray to people that this is more about the long-term game here… It is not going to be solved 1, 2, 3.”
Local Democrats argue the city is ready to flip against Senator Jon Husted and governor hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy. “It’s not the same Mahoning County,” county Democratic chair Christ Anderson said, according to the Irish Star, adding that the area is “not draped in Make America Great Again signs” after voters were sold a “false bill of goods” on inflation.
“Remember that the arsonists that set these fires are not saying they’re the only ones who can put them out,” Anderson said.
