President Donald Trump has a bad habit of mentioning other people’s wives, sometimes more than his own, during his speeches.
But it seems he can’t keep one administration official’s wife off his mind.
The billionaire demanded the spotlight when he walked into the room, and quickly locked in on someone else in the audience.
Trump, 80, turned a Hispanic Heritage Month celebration in the White House’s East Room into an awkward scene in his head.
The former reality television star hosted the event to honor Hispanic Americans on Sept. 30. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy and his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, were in attendance.
Trump gave a lengthy speech to the crowd of supporters, touching on everything from praise for the Hispanic community to complaints about border security.
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However, Duffy’s wife became a recurring topic in Trump’s remarks. The president gave the impression that he was infatuated with Campos-Duffy, 54.
Around 10 minutes into the address, Trump shouted out Campos-Duffy and her sister. Dominican Republic Ambassador Leah Campos, 53, was also seated in the audience.
“I’m looking at Sean and Rachel,” Trump told the gathering of guests. “And your sister is here, too, Rachel. I hear… Oh, I don’t know who’s more beautiful. I can’t tell.”
Just three minutes later, Rachel’s name came out of Trump’s mouth again. It only took another eight minutes before the former star of “The Real World” was brought up once more.
Those off-the-cuff remarks preceded the actual portion of Trump’s written speech that mentioned Sean and Rachel. However, he still veered off script one more time.
“I want to also recognize a man I just spoke of briefly, but he’s doing a fantastic job. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy. He’s great,” Trump stated.
The MAGA chief’s attention then went from his Cabinet member to the Fox News host. Campos-Duffy is a longtime fixture on the conservative network.
“His wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, who’s a big television star. I try and watch. That’s the blessing of TiVo. I can watch no matter what,” Trump said.
The compliments then took a backhanded tone. Trump added, “She’s talented because she happens to have a great personality. So, I don’t know. Is that talent? I guess that’s called talent, right?”
Clips of Trump’s speech hit the internet, and commenters voiced their takes on the commander-in-chief’s seemingly obsessing over the Campos sister.
“Leering at [two] Hispanic women is going to help him win votes?” a person in The Daily Beast’s comment section sarcastically wondered.
Another commenter replied, “He has never had any sort of social finesse nor awareness on anything outside of lining his pockets.”
“Pawpaw needs to play the be quiet game,” suggested one poster. Trump’s headline-grabbing association with White House aide, Natalie Harp, became a talking point when one commenter wrote, “Better not tell Natalie.”
Yahoo readers also had a lot to say about Trump continually name-dropping Campos-Duffy at the White House function. For instance, one comment on the website read, “Just… Gross.”
“What a complete creep. If he were a department store Santa, parents wouldn’t let their kids sit in his lap,” argued another Trump critic.
A like-minded individual expressed, “There is no bottom to the embarrassment and cringe of Trump… absolutely zero!! Lol.”
The president spotlighting Rachel and Leah came off as creepy or cringeworthy to many viewers. But the Duffys showed no signs of being unnerved by the excessive flattery.
Sean and Rachel initially crossed paths as co-stars on the “Road Rules: All Stars” reality show in 1998. The couple married the following year. They now share nine children.
Trump also met his third wife, First Lady Melania Trump, in 1998. The twice-divorced real estate mogul married Melania, 56, in 2005, and the couple welcomed their only child together, Barron Trump, the following year.
