With just two and a half weeks left until the U.S. election, Donald Trump kicked off a rally on Saturday night with a lengthy story about the late Arnold Palmer and at one point even praised the legendary golfer’s genitalia.
Trump was campaigning in Latrobe, Pa., where Palmer was born in 1929 and learned to golf from his father, who suffered from polio and was head pro and greenskeeper at the local country club.
And while many who visit Latrobe speak about the golfing great, Trump delivered a long and meandering monologue about Palmer’s life story and even threw in a joke about Palmer’s manhood.
“Arnold Palmer was all man, and I say that in all due respect to women — and I love women,” Trump said. “But this guy, this guy, this is a guy that was all man. This man was strong and tough. And I refuse to say it, but when he took showers with the other pros, they came out of there, they said, ‘Oh my God, that’s unbelievable.'”
He laughed before continuing: “I had to say. We have women that are highly sophisticated here, but they used to look at Arnold as a man.”
Despite the odd choice of topic, one of Palmer’s daughters, Peg Palmer Wears, said she was unconcerned by the comments about her dad.
“There’s nothing much to say. I’m not really upset,” she told The Associated Press in an interview on Sunday. “I think it was a poor choice of approaches to remembering my father, but what are you going to do?”
The Harris campaign, however, quickly seized on the former president’s off-colour comments.
Sarafina Chitika, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, asked on X if anyone had “done a wellness check” on Trump.
The Harris campaign also highlighted the comments, sharing a clip from Fox News, where the host recapped Trump’s attention to detail.
When CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Speaker Mike Johnson about why Trump was talking about Palmer’s genitals and whether that is the message Trump wants to share with voters in the dwindling days of his campaign, Johnson dodged the question.
It wasn’t until he was pressed on Trump’s acuity, and again asked why there were comments at a rally about Palmer’s manhood, that Johnson answered.
“Jake, you seem to like that line a lot,” Johnson said to Tapper.
Tapper interjected, saying, “I don’t want to be talking about this, right? Donald Trump is out there…talking about it.”
Johnson said he would “address it” and proceeded to compare how long he suspects Trump and President Joe Biden could speak at comparable events.
“There’s lines in a rally. When President Trump is at a rally, sometimes he’ll speak for two straight hours. You’re questioning his stamina, his mental acuity, Joe Biden couldn’t do that for five minutes,” Johnson said.
Trump also took time in Latrobe to escalate his personal attacks on Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, calling her a “s— vice president.”
“Bernie is radical left, and this one, Kamala, is further left,” Trump told the cheering crowd at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport. “And then, so you have to tell Kamala Harris that you’ve had enough, that you just can’t take it anymore. We can’t stand you. You’re a s— vice president.”
He then channeled his most famous catchphrase from his days on The Apprentice: “The worst. You’re the worst vice president. Kamala, you’re fired! Get the hell out of here!”
— With files from The Associated Press