House Speaker Mike Johnson defended Donald Trump’s open admiration of genitalia belonging to the late American golf champion Arnold Palmer as being part of the “fun” he has at rallies.
The pro-Trump congressman also claimed in his interview on CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper that the former president’s long rants were proof that his “stamina” was still strong.
In an opening question about the presidential race, Tapper referred to comments that Trump made hailing Palmer’s penis at a rally.
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“You’re working hard to get Republicans over the line of this election,” Tapper said. “You’re talking about substantive issues. This is really the closing message you want voters to hear from Donald Trump’s stories about Arnold Palmer’s penis?”
“Well, listen, I think that the headline that I read about the rally in Pennsylvania yesterday was the big question,” Johnson replied, entirely avoiding Tapper’s question in a sign he was unable to speak about the thorny issue.
“Aand it’s the one that Kamala Harris has not been able or willing to answer, and that is, are you better off now than you were under the Trump administration four years ago? And no one can answer that question with a yes. I mean, no one. And that’s why Kamala Harris herself avoids the question.”
He continued by insisting that voters should instead “look at the record of these two candidates.”
“This shouldn’t be about personalities,” Johnson said. “It should be about policy, and I think people are looking at that seriously, and that’s why I think that’s we’re gonna win.”
Tapper, however, was determined not to let Johnson get away with dodging his pointed question.
“I’m sure that you think that a policy debate would be better than a personality debate, but if President Biden had gone on stage and spoke about the size of a pro golfer’s penis, I think you would be on this show right now saying you were shot in the hall, and you would suggest it was evidence of his cognitive decline,” Tapper said, justifying his line of questioning.
“I know you want to talk about policy, and I respect that, but the reason that Donald Trump is not up 10 points is because of comments like that one, where people do have concerns about his fitness, his acuity and his stability. Why is he talking about Arnold Palmer’s penis in front of Pennsylvania voters?
Instead of addressing Tapper’s points about Trump head-on, Johnson instead snarked, “Jake, you seem to like that line a lot.”
“Let me say something: I don’t want to be talking about, right? Donald Trump is out there saying it,” Tapper snapped back.
“I’ll address it,” Johnson retorted. “Okay, don’t say it again. We don’t have to say it. I get it. There’s lines in a rally. When President Trump’s is at a rally, sometimes he’ll speak for two straight hours. You’re questioning his stamina, his mental acuity. Joe Biden couldn’t do that for five minutes. That’s how you started this.”
Johnson went on to defend the comment by saying that Trump often slips crude jokes into his speeches.
“This is not working for the American people,” he said. “They want to change, and that’s what they see in Donald Trump. 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. So you can cherry pick a, you know, a few words or lines out of a two hour event.
“We can do that with Kamala Harris after a 20 minute event, because she does word salads, and she couldn’t, she couldn’t hold court like that without a teleprompter,” he added.
Arnold Palmer, meanwhile, was reportedly “appalled” to have been the subject of Trump’s jokes in 2016 shortly before his death.
