Donald Trump has allegedly made a comment about a certain top Democrat at a fundraiser event over the weekend at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida that has ruffled some feathers. The Washington Post reported on Monday that Trump remarked that Democratic Senator Jon Tester of Montana appeared to be “pregnant.”
The event was held in support of the re-election campaign of Republican Representative Ronny Jackson of Texas. Jackson, who previously served as the White House physician for Trump and other presidents, resigned from his position in 2019 and later won a seat in the 13th Congressional District in Texas. During the event, Trump suggested that he and Jackson should campaign together in Montana against Tester, with whom Jackson has a contentious history.
“He’s now in a tough campaign, and he could very well lose,” Trump said of the senator. “We ought to go up and campaign against him.”
Trump then said, “In fact, I looked at him, and I said, ‘Oh, this finally works for a man or woman, because he looks pregnant to me.’”
“Have you seen this guy?” the former president said of the Montana Democrat. “He doesn’t look like a fat guy, except his stomach is out to here.”
“Not that I talk about things like that. I don’t even notice them,” he said.
Chris LaCivita, a senior campaign adviser to Trump, told the Post, “Well, according to the left, men can [be pregnant]. So where is the controversy?”
Jackson decided to step back from the opportunity to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs in April 2018, following his nomination by Trump. Tester, who was the ranking member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee at the time, was part of a group of Senate Democrats who looked into Jackson’s background.
They uncovered allegations from former colleagues accusing the physician of overprescribing medication, occasional alcohol abuse, and creating a difficult work environment. Despite these claims, Jackson, a rear admiral in the Navy, maintained that the accusations were baseless and stood by his professional reputation.