In order to stand a chance of bagging the gig as The Most Powerful Person on Earth™, you have to expose yourself to a fair amount of embarrassment. It’s almost like a rite of passage.
Intense scrutiny from all quarters means in the lead-up to a US presidential election, candidates can’t even subtly blow half a burp into their hand after a lunchtime Diet Coke without it resulting in 10,000 posts on social media and an op-ed in The New York Times.
It almost seems as if the Republican and Democrat candidates for the 2024 US Presidential Election, as well as their running mates, have just embraced the inevitable clanger drops this time around.
It was difficult to narrow these down, but here are our favourite seven awkward moments from the campaign trail…
Back in June, the election was between two men: sitting President Joe Biden and former President . That was until CNN hosted a debate in which the two old-timers were due to slug it out verbally. Few Biden supporters really fancied their man to win in a toe-to-toe battle with the wily Trump. But nor did they see it being quite the disaster it turned out to be.
Flat, distracted, rambling, unfocused, incoherent… The next day’s press were verbose with adjectives in the wake of the debate that left Democrats cringing one minute and plotting an epic Roman-style backstab just seconds later.
Within no time at all, ‘Sleepy Joe’, already in his pyjamas, dressing gown and nightcap, was put safely to bed by his party. His understudy Kamala Harris was quickly prodded awake to replace him.
Back in May, Donnie Trump made a few oddball comments during a rally in New Jersey. They were about Hannibal Lecter, the fictional cannibal from The Silence of the Lambs, played by Sir Anthony Hopkins. Trump referred to him as ‘the late, great Hannibal Lecter,’ referring to Thomas Harris’ liver-chomping serial killer as ‘a wonderful man’ and quoting his famous line, ‘I’m about to have an old friend for dinner.’
He used this reference to criticise what he claimed was an influx of ‘criminal’ immigrants entering the US, adding that the media was ‘always on him’ for such remarks, which he intended as something of a light-hearted analogy.
What made it all the more strange was that it’s not the only time Trump’s namedropped Lector during one of his stream-of-consciousness speeches. Does the ex-prez see something of the murderous psychiatrist in himself? If so, his comments are less awkward and more just a little tiny teeny bit absolutely petrifying.
We won’t dwell on the Trump assassination attempt too much here. People almost having their heads blown off isn’t really something best described as ‘awkward’. Especially given Donald Trump actually came out of the July 13th shooting looking somewhat heroic (at least to his supporters, anyway).
We will dwell on Trumpists’ embarrassing ear bandage wearing, though. Shortly after Thomas Matthew Crooks shot off a sliver of Donald Trump’s lughole, we had the RNC (Republican National Convention). As a show of solidarity, hordes of attendees decided to wear makeshift ear bandages just as their barely-wounded hero was.
It was, apparently, ‘a sign of love’. And not, as most people assumed, ‘a sign of being just a little bit sad’.
If you ever watch the often quite tedious back-and-forths between former players on TV football coverage, you’ll notice that the ‘banter’ is generally quite intellectually limited. The teasing generally revolves around two subjects: the other person’s age and their golf handicap.
During their debate, the 78 year-old Trump and 81 year-old Biden wisely decided not to focus on each other’s ages. But their putting prowess was mentioned. Repeatedly. It was like watching Statler and Waldorf from The Muppets trying to roast one another after a dinner at the local golf club.
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Alright, so this one isn’t exactly ‘awkward’ as such. It’d be rather childish to blush and snigger when a person is earnestly revealing a rather major medical issue that they suffered with. But it certainly is strange.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was running as an independent candidate earlier in the campaign, before he conceded defeat and stood behind Donald Trump. Back in May, as part of his focus on the nation’s health, he discussed the time – a decade ago – that he contracted a tapeworm that ‘got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died.’
He later posted this on social media: ‘I offer to eat 5 more brain worms and still beat President Trump and President Biden in a debate.’
Ant & Dec’s people will no doubt be in touch, Bob.
When Donald Trump selected Ohio State Senator JD Vance, a relative unknown outside of his home state, as his running mate for the 2024 election, it raised a few eyebrows. And not just because, before July, most people on hearing his name would’ve assumed the conversation was about a budget high street jeweller.
The man’s divisive, we’ll say that. It’s quite possible that the 40 year-old Republican is trying a little too hard to be controversial. Singing for his supper, if you like. The whole ‘childless cat ladies’ speech felt a bit forced. Still, some people like him.
On the campaign trail, Vance popped into Holt’s Sweet Shop in the small city of Valdosta, Georgia. In a video clip that went viral, it’s clear that staff had no clue that the vice presidential nominee, his staff and a dozen Secret Service agents were about to bound through the door and clumsily order donuts.
JD suddenly forgot how conversations with human beings are supposed to go, making the whole thing a powdered sugar-dusted car crash.
He starts by introducing himself and explaining what he’s doing to a member of staff. Who seemingly doesn’t much care (‘okay…’). Then he announces that ‘the zoo has come to town.’ The woman then asks not to feature in the video (‘she doesn’t want to be on film guys, so just cut her out of anything.’).
So he concentrates on ordering, except he seemingly doesn’t recognise any of the products and forgets how to order. In the end he just gives up… ‘Er, just some sprinkle stuff, some of these cinnamon rolls? Just whatever makes sense.’
JD Vance isn’t the only one who sometimes forgets how to communicate with people. Kamala Harris often struggles too. Despite her rather impressive promotion this year from ‘anonymous and rather ineffective Vice President’ to ‘surprisingly popular presidential candidate’, she sometimes drops clangers. Especially in interviews and speeches.
She recently spoke to an enthusiastic and vocal crowd in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Those in attendance were so lively, they started chanting her name like she was a linebacker for the Detroit Lions (‘Ka-ma-la! Ka-ma-la! Ka-ma-la!’).
Trying to appear gracious and modest, she countered with, ‘now I want each of you to shout your own name… Do that! Without really thinking what it might sound like if a few thousand people decided to start shouting their own names. Turns out that noise is just silence. Only no one obliged, killing the atmosphere dead.
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