Trump's 'explosive diarrhea' problem hands Dems 'bizarre' midterm weapon: analysis

The Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi made a case that Americans’ “digestive health has become a bizarre” — but potentially effective — “talking point” for Democrats heading into the midterms, one that could sink GOP candidates come November.

Mahdawi flagged Trump’s yearslong fixation on toilets, citing his bizarre but oft-repeated claims that Americans were being forced to flush toilets well over a dozen times, which he blamed on Environmental Protection Agency standards.

“I regret to inform you that the president is once again responsible for a national conversation about toilets,” Mahdawi wrote in an op-ed published in The Guardian.

“In a fitting encapsulation of Trumpism, explosive diarrhea has become a midterm talking point. Food recalls and stomach-churning parasites have been a mainstay of the news this year and Democrats are milking the issue.”

Trump’s second term has been plagued by multiple outbreaks of foodborne illness, including a deadly cyclospora outbreak tied to lettuce produced by Taylor Farms, a food producer that donated $1 million to MAGA Inc. just days after the Trump administration postponed a key food safety compliance deadline. A multistate Salmonella outbreak linked to jalapeños affected Americans across at least 27 states, and another outbreak tied to sprouts sickened more than four dozen Americans.

As noted by Mahdawi, Democrats have seized on the foodborne illness outbreaks in their midterm messaging, including the Democratic Party apparatus itself, Rep. Gabriel Amo (D-RI), and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).

“To be fair, the number of food recalls during Trump’s second term is not remarkably different than it was under Joe Biden. What is different, however, is the scale of the problem. The US only recently declared the end of the largest ever recorded cyclosporiasis outbreak, which was linked to contaminated lettuce.”

Mahdawi warned that were Republicans to somehow maintain control of Congress after the midterms, Americans’ digestive health would likely suffer.

“If you thought the diarrhea-inducing lettuce was bad, then I’m afraid things only look likely to get worse,” Mahdawi wrote. “If Trump isn’t reined in at the midterms, the whole country is going down the toilet.”