Trump's Weirdest Campaign Moments In Pennsylvania

Aside from his embarrassing makeup blunders and his awkward gaffes that have been immortalized by many an eager journalist's camera, Donald Trump has managed to add several moments to his cringe resume during his 2024 presidential campaign stops in Pennsylvania. Not even an assassination attempt managed to keep the former president from returning time and again to the battleground state, but many of his rallies left an unpleasant taste in the mouths of concerned citizens.

Trump's brief shift at a Pennsylvania McDonald's in October 2024 left many of his supporters in awe, while his adversaries thought it to be a petty jab at Vice President Kamala Harris, who used to work at the fast food chain when she was a student. A spokesperson for the Harris campaign, Joseph Costello, told AP News in the aftermath that Trump's stint as a fry station operator was indicative of the kind of president he would be — exploiting the working class to further his own agenda. Trump, meanwhile, made sure to show some forced reverence to fast food restaurant personnel, saying that operating the fryer "requires great expertise." He also gave awkward interviews to gathered reporters through the drive-thru window, telling journalists, "I just saw something ... a process that's beautiful."

Prior to his McDonald's stint, Trump made an appearance in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where he made cringe-worthy comments about late golfer Arnold Palmer in what appeared to be an attempted tribute, and it might be safe to say the former president is rather bad at those. After offering some remarks on Palmer's riches, Trump commented on the late golfer's body. "Arnold Palmer was all man, and I say that in all due respect to women, I love women. ... This man was strong and tough, and I refused to say it, but when he took showers with the other pros they came out of there, they said, 'Oh, my God. That's unbelievable,'" Trump rambled (via CNN).

One photograph that will most likely make it into history books alongside the one of Donal Trump fist-pumping the air after surviving an assassination attempt on July 13, 2024, is the one of tech billionaire Elon Musk attempting an awkward jump at one of the former president's Pennsylvania rallies.

Musk stood waving at the crowd as Trump introduced him, praising him for being an advocate of free speech. As the Tesla CEO took to the stage, he attempted a jump, which fell flat, after which he made another effort to become airborne. The results, when playing the footage in slow motion, is nothing short of, er, mortifying. The tech billionaire then went on to open his speech with a rather ominous line as Trump stood at his side, grinning so widely one could not help but stare at his perfectly veneered pearly whites. "As you can see, I'm not just MAGA, I'm Dark Maga," Musk said, indicating his black MAGA hat. He then went on to deliver a speech that doubled down on Trump's divisive and fear-mongering messaging.

X, formerly Twitter, was ablaze with comments during Musk's speech, with one person noting, "I don't know if this will make sense to anyone but Elon jumps like a homeschool kid." "Why does he jump like that? If you can't jump, why keep doing it in front of the whole world?" another questioned. Musk's jump spawned various memes with some even joking that they'll be using the tech tycoon's awkward jump as inspiration for their Halloween costumes.