House Speaker Mike Johnson defended ex-President Donald Trump’s decision to spend his final days in the campaign discussing Arnold Palmer’s genitals over the weekend.
During a Saturday rally, Trump spent nearly 12 minutes in Latrobe, Pennsylvania praising the late golfer and his "attributes" in what is likely one of his final appearances in the key swing state.
"Arnold Palmer was all man," Trump told the crowd. "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.'”
In an interview on Sunday, CNN’s Jake Tapper pressed the top Republican on the anecdote.
“Is this really the closing message you want voters to hear from Donald Trump, stories about Arnold Palmer’s penis?” Tapper asked.
Tapper: Is the closing message you really want voters to hear from Donald Trump stories about Arnold Palmer's genitals?
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 20, 2024
Johnson: Let's put the rhetoric aside
Tapper: People have concerns about his fitness and stability. Why is he talking about Arnold Palmer's genitals in front… pic.twitter.com/9QIqu5RV0q
Johnson tried to steer back to his talking points, claiming the “main takeaway” from the profane rally was whether voters are better off than they were four years ago. Tapper wasn’t satisfied with the deflection.
“If President Biden had gone on stage and spoke about the size of a pro golfer's penis,” Tapper said, “you would suggest it was evidence of his cognitive decline.”
The “State of the Union” host asked Johnson how the comment fits into a New York Times analysis suggesting his rallies since 2016 have “grown darker, harsher, longer, angrier, less focused, more profane, and increasingly fixated on the past,” a question Johnson again sidestepped.
“Jake, you seem to like that line a lot,” he said. “OK, don't say it again. We don't have to say it. I get it."
Johnson ultimately chalked the story up to Trump having a bit of "fun."
"So, he has fun at the rallies. He says things that are off the cuff. I’ve been in those events. I’ve been in those arenas, and people have a great time at those arenas," he said. "So, you can cherry-pick a few words or lines out of a two-hour event."
Later in the interview, Johnson defended another, much darker recent addition to Trump’s rhetoric: his suggestion that he’d turn the military on dissenters he has repeatedly called the “enemy from within.”
“What he’s talking about is marauding gangs of dangerous violent people who are destroying public property —” Johnson said before Tapper cut him off.
“No, He talked about Adam Schiff and the Pelosis... He was very clear,” Tapper said, before playing a clip of Trump doubling down on those remarks.
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