Former President Donald Trump delivered unusual and vulgar remarks Saturday about the late golf legend Arnold Palmer while campaigning in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, as the campaign enters the final stretch to Election Day.
The former president spoke for more than 10 minutes about Palmer, who was born in Latrobe, at a rally at the local airport named in Palmerâs honor.
âHe was an incredible man, he was an incredible champion, and he came from Latrobe,â Trump said.
Then his comments appeared to go off script.
âThis is a guy that was all man,â the former president said. âThis man was strong and tough, and I refuse to say it, but when he took showers with the other pros, they came out of there, they said, âOh my God, thatâs unbelievable.'â
To laughter, Trump added, âI had to say it.â
Trump noted that heâs been to Latrobe and told the story before, but ânot in this kind of detail.â
Palmerâs daughter Peg Palmer Wears said in 2018 that her father, a political conservative who died in 2016 shortly before Trump was elected, was âappalledâ by Trump.
âWhat would my dad think of Donald Trump today? I think heâd cringe,â she told author Thomas Hauser then.
On Sunday, she told The Associated Press that she is ânot really upsetâ about Trumpâs remark, saying âthereâs nothing much to say.â
âI think it was a poor choice of approaches to remembering my father, but what are you going to do?â Palmer Wears said.
Later in his remarks, Trump led the crowd in a call-and-response about the Biden-Harris administrationâs economic and foreign policy record, saying âeverything they touch turns toâŠâ as the crowd chimed in with the expletive.
âYou have to tell Kamala Harris that youâve had enough, that you just canât take it anymore. We canât stand you. Youâre a s-â vice president. The worst,â Trump said to the crowd about his Democratic rival. âYouâre the worst vice president. Kamala, youâre fired.â
House Speaker Mike Johnson was asked repeatedly about Trumpâs Arnold Palmer comments on CNNâs âState of the Unionâ on Sunday, but he pivoted to Harrisâ record, saying, âput the rhetoric aside.â
âThis shouldnât be about personalities, it should be about policies,â Johnson said.
Meanwhile, Harris has been calling Trumpâs mental state into question on the campaign trail in recent days, while sharpening her criticism of the former president. On Saturday, she told reporters that Trump is âbecoming increasingly unstable and unhinged.â
âThe American people are seeing it, witnessing it in real time,â she added.