Donald Trump repeatedly praised an Ohio senator’s butt at rallies, and the unseated Republican now says he is doing squats to live up to it

Ohio Sen. Jon Husted is leaning into the attention President Donald Trump gave his physique on the campaign trail, saying he is keeping up with his fitness routine to live up to it. The 59-year-old Republican, who was unseated in last week’s election, joked to TMZ in Washington, D.C., on Monday that he is hitting his squats after the president made his build a recurring topic at multiple rallies.

Husted said he appreciates the compliment, especially given the negativity that often surrounds a political campaign. As detailed by The Daily Beast, Trump made the senator’s physique a signature part of his speeches throughout October.

The commentary began on October 3 during a rally in Vandalia, Ohio, where Trump first acknowledged Husted’s background as a former college football player. Husted, a former lieutenant governor, was appointed to the Senate in January 2025 to fill the vacancy left by JD Vance.

Trump kept adding new details with every rally

By the time the president reached a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, on October 12, he told the crowd he had been examining Husted “up and down” to confirm his status as a great athlete. He described looking at the senator’s rear, his hands, and his overall build.

At a rally in Highland Heights, Kentucky, on October 17, Trump added the senator’s shoulders, feet, and jawline to the list. He said that when he patted Husted on the shoulder, it felt “like a piece of steel.”

In Greenville, North Carolina, on October 20, the president claimed he had never studied the body of a man before. “Nothing wrong with it, of course. Nothing. … But it’s never been my thing, to be honest with you,” he said, adding that tapping Husted’s shoulder had “actually hurt my hand.”

Trump often claimed the comments helped shift the momentum of the race in Ohio. In Youngstown, he said Husted’s poll numbers had “gone through the roof,” and by the Kentucky rally, he claimed the senator had picked up “like 9 or 10 points.”

In Greenville, Trump went as far as claiming a poll showed Husted moving from 10 points down to 2 points up. However, most public surveys throughout the month showed his opponent, Sherrod Brown, in the lead.

Husted was not the only person to receive this kind of attention from the president. Trump made similar comments about rapper Nicki Minaj, whom he once floated as a potential press secretary, and at an October 1 event in Oklahoma, he invited several men onstage and called them “big, strong, handsome Oklahoma studs” while noting he was “not at all physically attracted to them.”