Donald Trump said some harsh words against refugees on Monday during a speech in Adel, Iowa, but saved his most damning comments for the flies buzzing around his face.
The former president told supporters that if reelected, he will begin “ideological screening” for all immigrants and won’t allow anyone who sympathises with Hamas and Muslim extremists to enter the country.
However, he got distracted during his diatribe by flies buzzing around his face.
“I didn’t know you had flies in Iowa,” Trump said while waving his hand in front of his face. “I hate flies!!!”
After the audience laughed, Trump predicted he’d get in trouble for his comments because of “cruelty to animals.”
The former president then related an anecdote he claimed happened the other day — however, the people he quoted in the story referred to him as “Sir,” a word some Trump-watchers claim has become a “tell” that he’s about to say something that may be false.
“The other day I was at a place, it was a beautiful place, but they had, like, flies,” Trump narrated. “I said, ‘Get fly paper!’ They said, ‘Sir, they’re not allowed to sell it anymore because of cruelty to animals.’ They actually said that.”
That portion of Trump’s speech is in the video below.
Many users of X, formerly known as Twitter, fact-checked Trump’s bizarre and false claim.
Memorably, during the 2020 vice presidential debate, Trump’s then-VP Mike Pence also managed to attract the attention of one fly that wouldn’t get off his face.