The Craziest Moments From Trump's Florida Rallies This Year

Donald Trump's campaign is to presidential elections what the Challenger disaster was to Space Shuttle missions — a loud, fiery disaster no one seems capable of stopping. After Trump was accused of groping more than ten women this week, he's taken a gigantic swan dive in the polls and has...

By Jerry Iannelli

October 16, 2016

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Donald Trump's campaign is to presidential elections what the Challenger disaster was to Space Shuttle missions — a loud, fiery disaster no one seems capable of stopping. After Trump was accused of groping more than ten women this week, he's taken a gigantic swan dive in the polls and has offered reasoned, varying excuses such as the New York Times is a front for Mexican billionaires and the women weren't attractive enough to grope.

During the fallout this week, Trump made two stops in Florida, his second home. At the first rally, in Lakeland, he categorically denied he's a serial sexual abuser. But in West Palm Beach, he unleashed a colossal anti-Semitic buzzword grab-bag on the public, accusing the media and Hillary Clinton of being a front for "globalists," a code word many in the alt-right uses to reference Jews.

So we've now reached a point in the election cycle where Trump is straight-up pandering to the neo-Nazi frogs in his Twitter mentions. But Trump's rallies all year have been insane: Here's a recap of the weirdest moments from his South Florida appearances thus far.

That time the leader of the Florida "Blacks for Trump" movement turned out to be a former member of a murderous cult.

That time a security guard called black protesters "them" and wouldn't let them into a rally.

That time Trump said keeping more water in Lake Okechobee would somehow stop droughts from happening (it won't).

That time a group of teenagers got kicked out of a rally for shouting, "Dicks out for Harambe!"

That time the vice mayor of South Miami blasted audio of Trump's "Grab 'Em by the Pussy" tape outside a rally.

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Jerry Iannelli is a former staff writer for Miami New Times from 2015 to March 2020. He graduated with honors from Temple University. He then earned a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.

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Twitter: @jerryiannelli