Throughout CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, the topic of legendary golfer Arnold Palmer’s was repeatedly raised by Democratic and Independent guests, as well as host Jake Tapper, while discussing former President Donald Trump’s recent rally in Pennsylvania.
Trump appeared on stage Saturday in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, the hometown of Palmer, where he paid tribute to the late golfer’s life and their friendship. However, CNN’s focus on Sunday seemed to center solely on Trump describing Palmer as “all man,” as Tapper opened the show by pressing Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson on the topic.
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“Mr. Speaker, you’re crossing all over the country. You’re working hard to get Republicans over the line in this election. You’re talking about substantive issues. Is this really the closing message you want voters to hear from Donald Trump — stories about Arnold Palmer’s penis?” Tapper asked.
While Johnson wanted to focus on Harris’ record versus Trump’s rhetoric, the CNN host continued to press him on Trump’s comments, claiming that the former president’s joke may contribute to “concerns” voters have about Trump’s mental “fitness.”
“But if President Biden had gone on stage and spoke about the size of a pro-golfers penis, I think you would be on this show right now saying you were shocked and appalled and you would suggest it was evidence of his cognitive decline,” Tapper said.
“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?” Tapper questioned.
Johnson called out the CNN host, stating that he seemed “to like that line a lot,” before defending Trump and highlighting the policies of the Biden-Harris administration that are driving voters to support the former president.
Later in the show, Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders also addressed the comments while discussing his defense of Harris. Tapper had initially pressed Sanders on why Harris has yet to hold a public campaign event with him, despite having done so with former Republican Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney.
“But also last night, Jake, you may have noticed Trump held a rally and the big issue that he talked about — and please forgive me if I mention this on television — was apparently the size of Arnold Palmer’s penis. That was the major issue that he discussed,” Sanders said.
The topic was brought up a third time by Democratic Pennsylvania Rep. Madeleine Dean during a roundtable discussion with other strategists. Dean questioned the group about a recent criticism of Trump’s “language,” comparing some of his word choices to Hitler’s, before highlighting his tribute to Palmer.
“This is stuff from the 1930s. This is Hitler stuff. I wonder why Republicans aren’t calling it out, not to mention calling out the 12 minutes talking about parts of Arnold Palmer,” Dean said.
During Trump’s speech to Pennsylvania residents at the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Westmoreland County, the crowd could be heard laughing as Trump shared stories about Palmer. Throughout the roughly 12-minute tribute, the former president referred to Palmer as “all man” for less than a minute and never mentioned the golfer’s genitalia directly.
But Arnold Palmer was all man and I say that with all due respect to women. I love women. But this guy, this is a guy that was all man. This man was strong and tough. And I refuse to say it, but when he took showers with the other pros, they come out of there, they said, ‘Oh my God, that’s unbelievable!’” Trump said as the crowd laughed.
“I had to say. We have women that are highly sophisticated here, but they used to look at Arnold and say, ‘Man.’ But he was really something special, Arnold was something special. So I just want to tell you, you’re very lucky — the people who live in Latrobe — and it’s an honor for me to be here because of him. He was — actually he was a great man and I don’t think there would be golf to the extent that you have it today, it probably wouldn’t be that way without the Great Arnold Palmer. So enjoy it everybody,” Trump added.
Despite the relatively brief mention of Palmer during the roughly two-hour campaign event, headlines from corporate media outlets like NPR, the Associated Press and The New York Times focused on the quick comment from Trump’s speech, which lasted over an hour, with some calling it “an off-colored joke.”
Harris’ campaign has attempted to appeal to male voters, specifically black and Latino men, over the past month, as polls indicate she has been slipping among these key voting blocs.
While Harris has made strong strides with women voters, polls show she is falling significantly behind Trump with male voters. An NBC poll released in mid-September reveals a 33-point gender gap between Harris and Trump, with the former president leading Harris among men by 12 points, while Harris leads Trump among women by 21 points.
In early October, the vice president brought former President Barack Obama onto a Pennsylvania stage; however, he quickly faced criticism for scolding male voters for not supporting Harris. A recent New York Times/Siena College poll shows that while women in the key swing state of Pennsylvania favor the vice president 55% to 41%, men favor Trump 52% to 39%.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.