Trump tells Florida rally heckler to shut up and calls him a loser

Heckler removed in Daytona Beach

Trump was only minutes into his speech on Friday, 30 October, at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida, when a man began heckling him. It was unclear what the man was shouting. Trump pointed toward the crowd and told him to shut up, calling him a 'dope' before turning to insults. Video footage shows the man being escorted out of the venue while the crowd booed. Several people were removed from the crowd, and Trump claimed they were 'paid protesters'.

“Shut up, loser. What a loser. Get him out of here.”

A string of disrupted rallies

Trump has held a series of campaign rallies in the weeks before the midterm elections, and protesters have interrupted many of them. At a rally on 12 October in Ohio, Mediafax reports, a woman wearing a shirt demanding the release of the Epstein files was grabbed by people nearby, while a man appeared to strike her and the crowd chanted 'USA, USA, USA'. Trump called that protester paid and said protesters were being paid by leftists to destroy the country. At a rally in North Carolina on 20 October, he compared the demonstrators to participants in the riots in France. Observador lists South Carolina, Ohio and Mississippi among recent stops where similar scenes unfolded, and a Kansas rally was also repeatedly disrupted. Trump's reaction has been almost identical at each stop, alternating between complaints about the timing of the interruptions and claims that the protesters were being paid.

Epstein, ballroom and the final schedule

Other protesters, according to Observador, shouted that Trump had travelled on Jeffrey Epstein's plane, a reference to the wealthy man involved in a sexual abuse scandal involving minors who died in prison. Another criticised the White House ballroom, which Observador puts at more than $300 million, at a time when voters name rising living costs among their main concerns. Trump's rallies in Kansas and Iowa had been cancelled for the weekend, but Republican sources told the Associated Press he will attend both, now scheduled for Sunday, 1 November. The Independent reports that early voting has jumped in key Senate battleground states as Trump begins his final push. At the Florida event he told the crowd:

“These are the most important midterm elections ever.”

Attacks on Senate candidates

At the Florida rally, La Repubblica reports, Trump called Michigan Senate Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed a jihadist and mocked Texas Senate Democratic candidate James Talarico for being vegan, claiming Talarico wanted only a celery stalk and a lettuce leaf. Trump had made similar accusations against El-Sayed at a rally in Port Huron, Michigan, on 25 October. El-Sayed has denied any link to the Muslim Brotherhood, and no evidence has emerged showing that he belongs to the group. He called Trump's remarks stupid. The midterm elections for Congress and the Senate are due on Tuesday, 3 November.