President Donald Trump has praised the body of Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) no fewer than five times this month — giving special attention to the senator’s buttocks — and while the remarks have confused onlookers, one journalist believes there to be a chilling message behind the president’s flattery.
“Whether he’s inviting the world to stare at these men’s allegedly spectacular rear end or daring them to smile while he calls them ugly, Trump is sending a message: He owns these people,” wrote journalist Amanda Marcotte in an analysis published by Salon Friday.
On Oct. 12, Trump said during a rally that he had examined Husted’s body “up and down” and explicitly “looked at his a--.” Trump would make several similar comments during rallies in subsequent days, making additional remarks about Husted’s backside, including that it was “like a pile of muscle.”
While Trump has long made “puzzling” remarks regarding men’s physical appearances, Marcotte argued there was a pattern — and a darker motive — behind such comments, comments that had turned Husted into “the single most famous male victim of Trump’s relentless appetite for sexual harassment.”
“He can define them in reductive, humiliating language, and they have been so hollowed out as human beings that they won’t even defend themselves. Normally, when a leader is both a lame duck and cratering in his approval polls, the way Donald Trump is now, that person’s party will start looking for ways to move on and forge a new identity,” Marcotte wrote.
“It’s a sign of how empty the Republican Party is that they seem incapable of doing that. They don’t just submit to Trump’s continued abuse, but even keep seeking it out. That must be a miserable experience, but clearly they feel that without him, they’re nothing at all. It’s tough to disagree.”