President Donald Trump’s latest midterm campaign rally was rocked by a wave of protesters on Wednesday night as he fought to convince Texas voters to back Senate candidate Ken Paxton. The president was heckled as at least half a dozen demonstrators managed to disrupt the event, before being expelled from the venue, with some led away by police.
Chaos Erupts Early in Speech
Less than 10 minutes into his speech, a person stormed away from the stage while yelling. A man in a red hat appeared to grab that person's hair and seemed to get into a physical altercation, leading others to separate the two. After the person walked out of the venue, the president asked: "Is there anything like a Trump rally?" He then remarked: "He’s going back home to mom. But what he doesn’t know is his mom voted for Trump."
Elsewhere during the event, flag-bearing supporters waved cowboy hats and chanted “USA” to drown out the boo’s while Trump asked “paid protestors” to raise their hands and to “get the hell out of here”.
More Disruptions and Mockery
During his speech, footage showed protesters being led away, prompting Trump to remark, “That guy has got to lose a lot of weight,” before reiterating the same remarks. He further mocked their appearance and claimed without evidence that “they’re paid by enemies of our nation”.
Texas has become an unexpected battleground for Republicans. The president has visited Texas three times in less than a month. National economic pressures and low approval ratings turn the typically red state into an unexpected midterm battleground.
Iran Remarks Revisited
Trump also used Wednesday’s rally to address his previous remark that Iran could "take out" Los Angeles and San Diego, which sparked fierce backlash from the Democrats. California Governor Gavin Newsom labelled the comment as "deranged and dangerous". However, the White House said Trump was initiating that American cities would have been threatened by Iran had he not launched a war there earlier this year.
At the Texas rally, 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.”
