Donald Trump: These are his most bizarre campaign moments

Whatever the voters decide next Tuesday (November 5th): the current election campaign for president of the USA will go down as one of the most bizarre in history. In the past few weeks, Donald Trump (78) in particular seemed to want to push his upward scale of weirdness, insults and bending of the truth almost every day. Even if it was difficult to choose: Here are the top 5 most bizarre moments of the 2024 US election campaign.

Let’s start with a prime example of Trump’s campaign rhetoric. Four years ago, the government duo Joe Biden (81) and Kamala Harris (60) presented their ideas for the new “Green Deal”, the ecological restructuring of the US economy. They suggested working with farmers to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Trump stripped the plan of truth and meaning and made it: The Democrats want to ban cows – just like windows in houses. He recently brought the song about the Democratic “plan for the destruction of cows” out of the drawer during the election campaign in Las Vegas. And Donald Trump knows: What he says in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas.

“Ave Maria” by Franz Schubert (+1828) is an international funeral classic. Song and singing are intended to add dignity to the otherwise sad event. In mid-October, Trump appeared at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Two visitors fell victim to the heat in the hall – and perhaps also to his fiery words – and suffered attacks of weakness. Trump then canceled the civic hour and had the DJ play Schubert’s “Ave Maria”. Undignified? At least in combination with the 70s disco hit “YMCA” Schubert may have turned in his grave several times. Trump was different: he spun around nimbly to the sounds of his bizarre playlist for half an hour and made headlines.

In fact, children sometimes come back from school at lunchtime changed. The blame may be puberty, bad grades, classmates or teachers – less often, outpatient gender reassignment surgery. Donald Trump saw things differently in August in Milwaukee. Trump criticized “inappropriate content” and “indoctrination” in public schools. But that’s not enough. He told the story of “Jimmy.” In the morning the parents wish the boy “a nice day at school.” In the afternoon he would come back “with a brutal operation” in the style of gender reassignment. “What the hell is wrong with our country?” said Trump. What was going on with Trump that day, many listeners asked themselves.

Trash talk is a term from sports. The aim is to harass the opponent on the pitch until he is annoyed and can be replaced. Trash talk of a completely different nature determined the last days of the 2024 election campaign. At an election event on October 28th in New York, the “comedian” Tony Hinchcliffe (40), who was invited by Trump, described Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean.” In doing so, he insulted around 1.7 million Puerto Ricans who were naturalized in the USA – at least. President Joe Biden then apparently called Republican voters “garbage” – a hit for Trump. He insisted on slipping into a garbage collector’s vest and into a MAGA garbage truck at the end of the gangway of his campaign plane. There and at a subsequent event in Green Bay (Wisconsin) he continued his “trash talk” in orange.

Springfield doesn’t really need the extra fame. For “Simpsons” fans, the fictional home of their comic favorites is the center of the world anyway. Maybe Donald Trump wanted to give the other Springfields in the USA a little more publicity. After all, “Springfield” is one of the most common American place names. In any case, since the only TV duel between him and Kamala Harris in September, nothing has been the same – not for all Springfields, the people living there and certainly not for cats and dogs. Trump’s baseless claim that Haitian immigrants would rather eat than feed the cuddly pets went viral in the original sense of the word. The artist’s song “The Kiffness”, based on Trump’s statements, counted millions of views worldwide within hours – the clear number one on the bizarre charts.