Trump bizarrely claims to be the only one who likes cucumbers in self-centred Georgia senate rally speech
US president makes several false claims about last month’s election result at event on Saturday
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump claimed that he is the only one who likes cucumbers during a rambling speech in Georgia ahead of January’s runoff Senate elections.
In a bizarre 90-minute speech in Valdosta, Georgia, on Saturday evening, the US president attacked officials who certified the state for Joe Biden and falsely claimed that there had been widespread voter fraud.
However, during the speech, which was his first since losing 3 November’s election to Mr Biden, he also made a bizarre claim about cucumbers.
After segueing between various topics, Mr Trump told the crowd at the rally: “Blueberries, peppers, squash and cucumbers. Who does cucumbers around here?”
He added, as the crowd cheered: “Because I like cucumbers. I’m the only one. I like cucumbers.”
President Trump held the rally on Saturday in support of Republican senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, who will face Democratic challengers Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff on 5 January in runoff elections, after no candidate got more than 50 per cent of the vote in either race on 3 November’s election.
However, Mr Trump spoke for 90 minutes and made numerous false claims about the result of last month’s national election, before he invited Ms Loeffler and Mr Perdue on stage.
Although Mr Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election last month, Mr Trump has yet to concede, despite officially launching the transition process.
The president and his campaign team have filed around 40 unsuccessful lawsuits in battleground states that Mr Biden won. The Trump team has so far provided no definitive evidence of any voting irregularities.
During Saturday’s rally, Mr Trump called on those in government with “courage and wisdom” to help him overturn Mr Biden’s win and falsely claimed that he won in Georgia. The US president lost the state by more than 12,000 votes.
“They cheated and they rigged our presidential election, but we will still win it,” Mr Trump then falsely claimed. “And they’re going to try and rig this [Senate] election too,” he added, in reference to the 5 January election.
The US president eventually encouraged his supporters to vote for Ms Loeffler and Mr Perdue, but both senators were drowned out when they entered the stage, as the crowd chanted “stop the steal” and “fight for Trump”.
As the 3 November election result dominated the rally, Mr Trump claimed that if he thought he had lost, then he would be “a very gracious loser”, and added: “I’d go to Florida … I’d take it easy.”
Mr Biden won the presidential election by 306 to 232 electoral college votes, and received 7 million more ballots nationally than Mr Trump.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments