WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump can't stop marveling at the backside of Sen. Jon Husted.
His gushing started Oct. 12 during a midterm campaign rally in Youngstown, Ohio, as the president sized up the physique of the 59-year-old Ohio Republican ‒ and the president hasn't stopped telling his supporters about Husted's body, specifically his "ass," ever since.
During three separate campaign speeches in the homestretch before the Nov. 3 midterm election, Trump has told the same story about assessing Husted's frame after NFL coach Jon Gruden informed the president that Husted played college football with Gruden at the University of Dayton in the 1980s.
"I don't do this with men very often," Trump said during the first mention in Ohio. "I started
examining his body, because I didn't know he was a great athlete. And I looked and I watched up and down. I looked at his ass. And then I looked at his hands. Look at his hands. He's got these, like, claws."
While delivered as a joke, the commentary continues a long ‒ at times, perplexing ‒ history of the president remarking publicly on the looks of men he finds strong, masculine or "straight out of central casting," both in athletics and politics. It comes as Trump is seeking to boost Husted in the midterms, with most polls showing the Republican incumbent trailing his Democratic challenger, former Sen. Sherrod Brown.
"I examined his ass and then I looked at his shoulders," Trump said at an Oct. 17 campaign rally in Highland Heights, Kentucky. "I looked at his feet. I looked at his hand. I looked at his jawline. Studying. You would be very unfortunate if you picked a fight with him at a bar someday."
He singled out Husted's buttocks again in Greenville, North Carolina on Oct. 20.
"I looked at his ass and then I looked at his legs," Trump said. "I said his ass ‒ it's like a pile of muscle."
'Central casting': Trump's history of extolling 'handsome' men
Representatives of Husted's Senate office and his campaign did not respond to a request for comment when asked for the senator's reaction to Trump's remarks.
Even Vice President JD Vance has taken notice of Trump's fixation with Husted's rear end. "What could I possibly say about Jon Husted that Donald J. Trump has not already said?"Vance said during a campaign swing to Sharonville, Ohio on Oct. 21. "Don't worry. I'm not talking about Jon Husted's ass."
Trump has a long had an open fascination with "good genes" and bloodlines to explain human vitality. Whether someone is telegenic and looks the part has factored into Trump's Cabinet picks and other White House hires.
And while Husted's body is getting most of Trump's attention of late, the senator is far from the only man ‒ nor the only midterm candidate ‒ whose physique Trump has lauded.
Just minutes into his Oct. 16 rally for Republican Rep. Mike Collins in Dalton, Georgia, Trump remarked that the Republican nominee for Senate in Georgia is better-looking than his opponent, Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff.
"Somebody said he's a good-looking man," Trump said of Ossoff. "I don't think he's a good-looking man. I actually think Mike Collins is a good-looking man. And he's all man. He's all man. I'm not sure about Ossoff."
He pivoted to Rick Jackson, Georgia's Republican nominee for governor.
"I actually think that Rick Jackson's a very handsome, distinguished, beautiful-looking guy. But anyway," Trump said.
Trump then turned his attention back to Collins.
"He is central casting," Trump said of the congressman. "Stand up, look at this. If I'm casting a movie for a senator, I like the white hair, I like the big, strong build. Big, strong guy. That's what I want."
Later in the same speech, Trump spotted Greg Dolezal, a Republican state senator in Georgia who is running for lieutenant governor.
"Oh he's a good-looking guy," Trump said. "You're not allowed to say that about women or men anymore. It's the end of your political career. But he is a good-looking guy."
Trump's Jaxon Dart and Arnold Palmer moments
Two days earlier on the campaign trail, Trump praised the looks of Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy as he rallied supporters on Oct. 14 in Kalispell, Montana.
"I wish Tim didn't look that good," Trump said. "You know, he's a very handsome guy. I don't like handsome guys. I never liked handsome men."
As he spoke at a rally on Oct. 1 in Durant, Oklahoma, the president had three male supporters he spotted on television join him on stage.
"Where are they? You can't miss a big, strong, handsome Oklahoma studs (sic)," the president said. "Oh, there they are. Look at these three guys. These are studs."
Yet the president's flattery toward good-looking men didn't begin during his ongoing midterm blitz.
Trump's appreciation of the male body was memorably on display in May when the president was joined on stage by New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart during a speech in Suffern, New York.
"He's this beautiful guy, he's got legs like tree trunks," Trump said of Dart.
Perhaps Trump's most pointed remarks about the male anatomy ‒ which came to the edge of being explicit ‒ came in the 2024 presidential election as he discussed golfing legend Arnold Palmer.
“Arnold Palmer was all man,” Trump told a crowd in Pennsylvania. He then went where no other president has gone before: "I refused to say it but when − when he took showers with the other men, they came out of there, they said, 'Oh my god. That’s unbelievable.'”
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: President Trump keeps talking about Sen. Jon Husted's backside
