Donald Trump’s latest campaign rally was rocked by repeated protests on Wednesday as the US president urged Texas voters to back embattled Senate candidate Ken Paxton.
At least half a dozen demonstrators interrupted the US president during his remarks in San Antonio, with some led away by police. One was physically assaulted by an older Trump supporter as he tried to leave the arena.
Trump briefly stepped away from the microphone after one protester appeared to approach the stage. “He’s going back home to mom,” the president said after the man was removed. “But what he doesn’t know is his mom voted for Trump.”
Supporters waving cowboy hats and chanting “USA” drowned out some of the protesters, while Trump told demonstrators to “get the hell out of here”. He mocked their appearance and claimed without evidence that “they’re paid by enemies of our nation”.
The president also used Wednesday’s rally to address recent comments in which he appeared to suggest that Iran could destroy Los Angeles or San Diego, earning widespread condemnation from Democrats.
In remarks that were again less than crystal clear, Trump said: “I said it the other day, let them hit a missile into San Diego or Los Angeles on the way. Let them hit – you want to see a horror show? You want to see problems? Let them hit San Diego. Let them hit Los Angeles and you want to see some bad things happen.
“You want to see a country that would be in freefall. We’re not going to let that happen. We protect our cities, we protect our country, we’re not letting that happen. And they’d use it, too. They’d use it.”
Trump was making his third trip to Texas in less than a month as Republicans pour money into races they had expected to win comfortably in November’s midterm elections.
Paxton, whom Trump endorsed during the Republican primary after turning against the incumbent senator John Cornyn, was called on stage by the president and thanked him for his support.
“Mr President, I want to thank you for coming for me, for coming for us, and for coming for Texas,” Paxton said. “We are going to win this race.”
Trump described Paxton as “perhaps the greatest attorney general in the United States of America,” and said: “He was tough and he was with us all the way. He’s a fantastic man.”
The Republican campaign to maintain control of the Senate has become increasingly focused on Texas, where Democrat James Talarico has emerged as a serious threat. A New York Times/ Siena College poll released last weekend showed Talarico leading Paxton ۵۱% to ۴۵% among likely voters. Texas has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since ۱۹۸۸.
Trump won the state by almost ۱۴ percentage points in ۲۰۲۴, but his approval rating has fallen sharply. A Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Monday put his approval rating at ۳۲%, while registered voters preferred Democrats to Republicans ۴۴%-۳۷%.
Trump’s relationship with Paxton has sometimes appeared uneasy. Trump called Paxton “a pain in the ass sometimes” last week, but on Wednesday did not discuss a leaked recording of Paxton in which the Senate candidate reportedly complained about the war in Iran, rising fuel prices and the way his campaign was being run.
Instead he spent much of the rally attacking Talarico, whom he repeatedly referred to as “Tala-freako”. He claimed without evidence that Talarico is vegan and recently disappeared: “He’s sick because he’s been forced to eat meat for political reasons and he’s throwing up all over the place.”
Trump insisted: “The people of Texas are not going to let weak, gutless, self-hating, transgender-promoting freak shows destroy everything that we’ve built.”
The president’s political difficulties in Texas were underlined by the absence of Republican governor Greg Abbott, a close Trump ally who is himself facing a competitive re-election race against Democratic state representative Gina Hinojosa.
Abbott was instead due to attend the dedication of a hospital about ۳۳۰ miles away. Democrats seized on his decision not to appear with Trump.
Republicans have now devoted more than $۳۰۰m to elections in Texas, according to the Associated Press, while Trump’s broader ۳۲-day campaign blitz has taken him through several Republican-leaning states, including Oklahoma, Alabama, Ohio and Nebraska.
