President Donald Trump has taken a “puzzling approach” during the final weeks ahead of the midterms, one that The New York Times’ Tim Balk noted had become increasingly frequent.
“Mr. Trump has long marveled at the physical appearance of some men, sometimes gravitating to a favored phrase to describe men whose looks he appreciates: straight from ‘central casting,’” Balk wrote in a report published by the Times Saturday. “But lately Mr. Trump has been particularly quick to gush about male bodies.”
For years, Trump has praised men for their looks, calling his own brother handsome multipletimes in the early 1990s, and calling a random rally attendee in early 2016 a “good-looking guy.” According to Balk, however, the frequency of such instances had appeared to increase, with one such instance occurring this week when Trump admitted to “examining” the body of Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) from head to toe, including his buttocks.
“As President Trump travels the country ahead of this year’s elections, he might focus on selling Americans on how he will bring the Iran war to a close, or control rising prices,” Balk wrote. “But in a puzzling approach, at some recent rallies he has instead started his often meandering remarks by effusing about the physical appearances of other men and, more rarely, finding fault with them.”
While rallying in Kentucky on Saturday, Trump called Ed Gallrein, the Republican congressional nominee from Kentucky, a “beautiful guy.” At that same rally, Trump praised Husted again, reaffirming that he “examined his a--” and “studied” his body, while also noting that “he’s got a jawline.”
At his rally on Friday in Georgia, Trump gushed over Mike Collins, the Republican Senate nominee, as being a “good-looking man” and “all man.” At that same rally, Trump went on to boast about the U.S. military having “big, strong, handsome soldiers now.”