Corpus Christi rally: Trump's 'I love the meat' barbecue mime goes viral
At a rally in Corpus Christi, Texas, Donald Trump acted out an imaginary barbecue – "I love the meat! I love it. Look" – and the clip took over the internet. Jimmy Fallon had a hot dog joke ready.
Texas takes its barbecue seriously. So, it turns out, does the President of the United States.
At a midterm rally at the Port of Corpus Christi on Tuesday 27 October, Donald Trump turned his attention to James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for the US Senate in Texas, who had recently been off the campaign trail. Talarico has denied being a vegan. Trump offered his own theory: “I happen to think he was food poisoned by meat because he can’t stand it.”
Then came the performance. “You ever see him go to a barbecue and he’s trying to show,” Trump said, before miming taking a big bite of something invisible: “I love the meat! Ahhh – I love it. Look.” He finished the scene: “Where is he? He’s behind the tent puking.”
AI illustration. (Spot Gaz, our gorilla, hiding somewhere near the smoker.)
According to The Independent, he also told the crowd that Melania had corrected how he says “vegan”, which he blamed on the fact that “I really do like the meat.”
The clip spread quickly online, with one post quoted by The Independent saying simply: “This can’t be real life.”
AI illustration.
Late-night television was waiting. On The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon joked that in one speech Trump had lost Texas “and his invite to the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest”.
Reported by The Independent, with details from HuffPost, KRIS 6 News and, for the Fallon quote, TheWrap.
