Donald Trump has spent the final stretch of the midterm campaign acting like the rally grind doesn’t faze him one bit.
He’s hopped from state to state to stump for Republicans and promising crowds a big night at the polls.
But at one of his last rally stops before voters weighed in, the president invited a guest he clearly expected to sing his praises. Instead, Trump got more than he bargained for when the man stepped to the mic.
Trump was all smiles when he introduced his guest to the stage.
By the time his guest walked away, critics were zooming in on the look on the president’s face.
Ahead of today’s Election Day, Trump spoke for most of the Nov. 1 rally in Dubuque, Iowa, supporting Republican Senate candidate Ashley Hinson.
By the home stretch, he had slid into a long roll call of shout-outs, from senators and state lawmakers to a Border Patrol union leader and a former state senator he nicknamed “the Marlboro Man.”
Then, with the event pushing toward the two-hour mark, Trump turned to wrestling.
He told the crowd he’d tried the sport in high school before calling out for Dan Gable, the Iowa coaching legend he awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in December 2020.
“I’m such a fan of Dan Gable. Could you come up?” Trump said, joking that he “was a little bit larger” than Gable but “would’ve been in trouble” on the mat.
In Iowa, Gable is about as close to royalty as it gets. As The Comeback noted in a piece syndicated by Yahoo Sports, he won Olympic gold in 1972 without surrendering a single point, then coached Iowa to 15 NCAA team titles, including nine straight from 1978 to 1986.
So when Gable made his way to the podium in a gray pullover and ball cap, Trump stepped aside, ready for the tribute. What came out first sounded more like a coach calling timeout.
“I think we’ve had enough,” Gable said, drawing laughter from the crowd. “I’m a pretty good coach and I read everything really well.”
He then squeezed his endorsement of the president into a few short sentences. “This guy’s doing the job that needs to be done. And that’s my coaching expertise. So, and I’m a pretty damn good coach, thank you.”
But the line landed like a hint, and Trump stood a few feet away with a tight smile before laughing it off and calling Gable “the best coach, the best ever.”
He didn’t exactly take the advice. Trump kept going for roughly six more minutes, even rolling a CNN segment about his popularity with MAGA voters before signing off. The White House’s Rapid Response 47 account shared Gable’s praise but left the “had enough” line out of its caption.
On social media, plenty of viewers weren’t buying that it was just a harmless coach’s quip.
“Even the wrestling legend is calling time on this boring stale rally. Trump’s reaction is PRICELESS,” one user wrote.
Some people zeroed in on Gable’s body language, asking, “Did you catch the puffed-cheek, exasperated sigh by gable?”
“The look on Trump’s face when Dan Gable told him the crowd had enough… pure gold,” noticed one person.
Many praised Gable, saying he “said what we all thought.” The whole appearance lasted about half a minute. To be clear, Gable came to back Trump, not roast him.
Meanwhile, one Instagram user summed it up: “That face he made, lol. We’ve all had enough, coach.”
It’s not the first time Trump’s marathon rallies have handed critics easy material.
Days earlier in Rock Hill, South Carolina, Trump pretended to end his rally, seemingly hoping the crowd would beg him to stay. Instead, one viewer pointed out that the audience looked perfectly fine with him wrapping up, and people could be spotted leaving behind him.
That’s quite the contrast with early October, when Trump went out of his way to insist he never gets tired on the campaign trail.
As for Dubuque, Trump eventually signed off with a line borrowed from his guest. “Let’s go out and do what we do best,” he said, “like Dan Gable. Win, win, win.”
Then he was off to Kansas for one more rally. He had also suggested he’d deliver his closing pitch at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the same spot of the pricey makeover critics have been picking apart.
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