President Trump joked Monday that he inspected Sen. Jon Husted’s backside after discovering that the Ohio Republican had been a standout college football player.
Speaking at a rally in Ohio, Trump said he was surprised to hear about Husted’s “athletic prowess” at the University of Dayton. He added that a closer look at the otherwise reserved senator’s physique convinced him the story was true.
“I don’t do this with men very often. I started examining his body because I didn’t know he was a great athlete,” Trump told supporters in Youngstown. “And I looked and I watched up and down.”
“I looked at his ass, and I looked at the whole—”
The remark prompted laughter from the audience.
Trump went on to point to Husted’s hands, saying, “Look at his hands. He’s got these, like, claws. And I got it … you are a great athlete.”
“I didn’t know that because he doesn’t talk about that,” the president added.
Trump also credited Husted’s football background with helping his standing among Ohio voters. Husted was an All-American defensive back on the 1989 Dayton Flyers team that won the Division III national championship.
After inviting Husted onto the stage, Trump offered another joke about the senator’s strength. “I just hit him in the back and I hurt my hand a little bit,” he said. “He’s like a piece of steel.”
Husted is in a close Senate contest against former Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio. Trump described Brown as “the candidate of the Marxist, the communists and the anti-American radicals who want to tear down America’s heritage.”
“He was here with the worst border we’ve ever had. The economy was terrible and everything else. He was here during a very dark period for our country,” Trump said of Brown.
The president also cautioned that Ohio could be “destroyed like Minnesota” if Democrats regained control.
“If you want to stop Ohio from being plundered, ransacked and destroyed like Minnesota is being destroyed … if you want to stop it before it begins, vote for Jon Husted and vote for [GOP gubernatorial candidate] Vivek Ramaswamy,” Trump told the crowd.
“Democrats want to burn it all down,” he said, urging Ohioans not to let Brown “slither his way back into power.”
Former NFL head coach Jon Gruden and boxer and social media personality Jake Paul accompanied Trump on Air Force One during the flight from Washington to Youngstown.
Gruden, who grew up in Sandusky, Ohio, and played college football alongside Husted, introduced Trump at the rally.
“To maximize our true potential, we gotta believe in our leadership and we gotta do it together,” said the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Las Vegas Raiders coach. “And if we can get this group elected, great days are ahead.”
Paul, a Cleveland native, accused Democrats of fielding “evil” candidates who were “willing to do anything to destroy us.”
“We have to protect this state,” the YouTuber-turned-boxer said.
Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming, Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno and embattled Ohio Rep. Max Miller also attended the event.
Miller, whose ex-wife – Moreno’s daughter – has accused him of physically abusing her and their young daughter, received a shout-out from the president but was not asked to come up on stage.
