‘Pee-wee Herman’: Trump mocks Jon Ossoff’s appearance at Georgia rally, repeats false claim about El-Sayed

US President Donald Trump launched fresh attacks on Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff and repeated a false allegation about Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed during a campaign rally in Dalton, Georgia, while campaigning for Republican candidates Mike Collins and Rick Jackson. Trump addressed a relatively small crowd gathered inside a hangar at Dalton Municipal Airport in support of Collins, who is running for the US Senate, and Jackson, the Republican candidate for governor.

During his speech, Trump mocked Ossoff's appearance, comparing the Democratic senator to Pee-wee Herman, the fictional 1980s character portrayed by actor and comedian Paul Reubens. The president then praised Collins' appearance, despite the Republican candidate trailing Ossoff in public polling. “And he’s all man,” the president continued. “He’s all man. I’m not sure about Ossoff.” Earlier in the week, Trump had also commented on the physical appearance of another Republican involved in a competitive Senate race, Jon Husted, praising his chin, hands and ‘ass’.

Trump revisits his 2017 campaign against Ossoff

Trump also revisited his role in helping Republicans defeat Ossoff during a 2017 special election for a Georgia congressional seat. However, he did not mention his subsequent efforts to campaign against Ossoff during the 2020 Georgia Senate runoff, which the Democrat ultimately won. “Ossoff was leading by a lot and they called me in to help. It was a special election,” Trump recalled. “And I came in and I held a massive rally for the person, very nice woman. And we ended up beating Ossoff. So I beat him. And that was in 2017. I beat him once and now we’re going to beat him more importantly a second time.”

Trump's account highlighted the Republican victory in the 2017 special election but omitted the later contest in which Ossoff defeated Republican David Perdue. On December 5, 2020, Trump held a rally in Valdosta, Georgia, urging Republicans to support Perdue and fellow Republican Senate candidate Kelly Loeffler ahead of the January 2021 runoff elections. Much of Trump's speech focused on his own defeat in the 2020 presidential election. He repeated claims that the election had been ‘rigged’ against Republicans. Weeks later, both Perdue and Loeffler lost their runoff contests to Democratic candidates Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. The victories gave Democrats control of the Senate.

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Protesters disrupt Trump's Georgia rally

Trump's speech was interrupted when protesters holding signs opposing US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began demonstrating inside the venue. Trump supporters moved to remove the protesters from the crowd. Among those involved was a woman wearing a yellow Gadsden flag as a cape. Two of the protesters' signs opposed the possibility of deploying ICE officers to polling locations on election day, an idea the administration has declined to rule out. After resuming his speech, Trump praised the woman in the yellow cape for helping remove the demonstrators.

“She went up there, ripped them out of their seats and threw them the hell out of here. Where’s the woman with the yellow cape, then? She was great,” Trump said.

Trump repeats false claim about Abdul El-Sayed

During the Georgia rally, Trump also repeated an allegation that Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Egyptian Islamist opposition organisation. There is no evidence supporting Trump's claim that El-Sayed belongs to the group. El-Sayed, who was born in the United States to Egyptian immigrant parents, has firmly denied having any ties to the organisation.

Trump had made the same allegation on Thursday during public remarks and in a video message recorded in the Oval Office and shared on his social media platform. The president repeatedly referred to El-Sayed as ‘Mohammed’ while making the allegation, despite the candidate's name being Abdul El-Sayed.

Trump mocks popularity of the name Mohammad

US President Donald Trump joked about the popularity of the name Mohammad among Muslims while mocking Iran's presidency during a campaign speech in Georgia. "You ‌know, if you're in doubt about somebody's name from the Middle East, just say 'Mohammad,'" Trump told a crowd in Dalton, Georgia. "You have about a 65% chance. 'Hello, Mohammad.' I've done it ​for years now. I've never been wrong."

Mohammad is among the most common male names in Muslim communities worldwide, with many families naming their sons after the Prophet Mohammad, the founder of Islam. Trump made the remarks while discussing Iran during a campaign rally held in a hangar at Dalton Municipal Airport. He was campaigning for Republican candidates ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.

"Iran is the only country where nobody wants to be president," Trump said, before pretending to ask several people named Mohammad whether they wanted the position. Iran has been led by President Masoud Pezeshkian since 2024. The audience responded relatively quietly to Trump's joke, with the crowd's reaction appearing muted as he continued his remarks about Iran.