Donald Trump inexplicably detoured to ponder the pronunciation of CNN anchor Dana Bash’s name while speaking at a campaign rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on Saturday. The former president argued, “Nobody knows how to say her first name. Is it ‘Day-na’ or ‘Dah-na’? Nobody knows. It’s been going on for 20 years; she’s been around a long time. Is it ‘Day-na’ or ‘Dah-na’? And now the fake news will say, ‘Trump didn’t know how to pronounce her first name.’ She doesn’t know how to pronounce it.”
Trump also extended an olive branch to Bash’s CNN colleague, Jake Tapper. The pair hosted the first presidential debate between Trump and President Joe Biden.
“But look, but Dana and Jake, I used to call him ‘Fake Tapper,’” Trump said. “Now I call him Jake Tapper because he treated us very fairly and so did Dana — treat me very fairly. I think it was, you know, just about neutral.”
As he played media critic, Trump also went back to his continued attacks on ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos, who he referred to as “George Slopadopoulos.”
“The worst network to me is ABC. Worse than NBC, worse than CBS, worse than CNN — the home of George Slopadopoulos, a nasty guy.” He went on to make fun of the journalist’s height and mock his questions as being too easy for Biden, despite the president’s interview being seen as part of Biden’s ongoing poor appearances that led to him stepping down as the Democratic Party’s candidate.
Elsewhere, Trump praised the invention of TiVo and waxed nostalgic for its glory days. “I love the playback controls you have nowadays. They used to call it ‘TiVo,’ now they TiVo— I think it’s the single greatest invention. It is better than television,” he told attendees.
Trump’s Pennsylvania event was also discussed on social media by self-described “political junkie” Peter Henlein, who tweeted, “Trump’s rally today: ‘I’m better looking than Kamala. no one knows how to pronounce Dana Bash’s name. Tariffs good. It should be illegal to criticize the Supreme Court. TiVo is awesome. I won Minnesota twice.’ This is dumb. Stop pretending it isn’t.” Trump received fewer votes than rivals Hillary Clinton and Biden in both 2016 and 2020.
Despite pleading from fellow Republicans to focus on policy, Trump has continued to levy personal attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris. While speaking to reporters from his New Jersey golf club earlier this week, Trump insisted, “I think I’m entitled to personal attacks. I don’t have a lot of respect for her” and added, “They want me to be nice. But they’re not being nice to me. They want to put me in prison.”
Trump also took issue with Jewish Democrats at the Saturday rally. He told the crowd, “Any Jewish person that votes for her or a Democrat has to go out and have their head examined. Because if you see what’s happening with Israel and Jewish people right now, there has never been a more dangerous time since the Holocaust if you happen to be Jewish in America.”
This isn’t the first time Trump has attempted to shame Jews in the United States who plan to vote for the Democratic candidate. Back in May, he said, “What Biden is doing with respect to Israel is disgraceful. If any Jewish person voted for Joe Biden, they should be ashamed of themselves.”
The commentary prompted a retort from “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, who said, “My apologies to you, Rabbi. Thank you so much for taking time off of your condomless porn star hush money trial to deliver a shame lecture to Jews. I will reflect on your moral standing next Yom Kippur.”
You can watch Donald Trump’s full Saturday rally from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania below:
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