Politics 3 min read By Alice Ashford
Trump Rates Republican Candidates on Looks at Midterm Rallies
President Donald Trump is using appearance as a campaign talking point, praising some Republican candidates as «beautiful» and «good-looking» while mocking Democratic rivals, as the party fights to retain control of Congress.
President Donald Trump has added a new line to his midterm campaign pitch: Republican candidates are easy on the eyes. At a rally in Kentucky, he singled out Ed Gallrein, a former US Navy SEAL running for the House, as «this beautiful guy» and «central casting» — a familiar phrase from a president who once owned the Miss Universe pageant and built his public profile on reality television.
The remarks are part of a broader pattern in which Trump uses physical appearance as a measure of political approval, praising allies and ridiculing opponents. At the same Kentucky event, he described Senator Jon Husted of Ohio, who is seeking re-election, as «a perfect person, good-looking guy» before offering a detailed and jocular appraisal of Husted's physique, saying he had «examined his ass» and then looked at his shoulders, feet, hands and jawline. The comments drew laughter and echoed an earlier rally in Ohio where Trump also highlighted Husted's past as a college football player.
Not every Republican receives the same treatment. During the party's midterm convention, Trump said of Ken Paxton, the Republican Senate candidate in Texas, «I don't really like the way he looks», adding that Paxton's conservative record as attorney general «speaks a lot louder than the suit he's wearing that doesn't look so great». Paxton stood nearby grinning as the president spoke.
Democrats have also faced Trump's visual judgments. He compared James Talarico, Paxton's Democratic opponent, to Alfred E. Neuman, the gap-toothed mascot of MAD magazine. In Georgia, while campaigning for Representative Mike Collins against Senator Jon Ossoff, Trump dismissed Ossoff's appearance — comparing him to the comedy character Pee-wee Herman — and said, «I actually think Mike Collins is a good-looking man, and he's all man». He went on to describe Rick Jackson, the Republican nominee for Georgia governor, as «a very handsome, distinguished, beautiful-looking guy».
The remarks come as Republicans defend their control of Congress in midterm elections that will determine whether Trump faces emboldened Democratic opposition in Washington. The president's focus on appearance has intersected with a wider debate within the campaign over which party's candidates are more masculine, turning personal presentation into a political signal. For Trump, aesthetics have long served as a source of praise or a target for ridicule, a habit formed during his years in the pageant and television industries and now applied to the candidates he is asking voters to support.
Whether the approach helps or hinders Republican candidates remains to be seen, but it has ensured that the president's rallies are as much about image as policy. With control of Congress at stake, Trump's assessments of his party's candidates — and their opponents — are likely to continue drawing attention on the campaign trail.
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