President Donald Trump interrupted a pre-midterm campaign rally in Daytona Beach, Florida, on Friday after struggling to keep one eye open and stopping to wipe it, just days before voters go to the polls.
About halfway through the event, Trump dipped a napkin into a cup of water and used it to wipe his eye, briefly breaking off from his remarks to supporters ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections.
‘Do you mind? I got a thing in my eye, watch this,’ Trump said.
‘Ah, that’s so much better,’ he added before throwing the remaining water from his cup toward the audience behind him.
‘I wish I had little eye drops,’ Trump continued.
He then ridiculed critics who had speculated that health concerns explained his earlier decision to cancel two rallies scheduled for the weekend.
‘If I did, they’d say I was seriously ill, that there’s something wrong with me,’ he said.
The 80-year-old president had abruptly called off rallies in Kansas and Iowa, prompting questions about his health even as he insisted that he felt ‘perfect.’
Both appearances were reinstated later on Friday, ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections.
The eye-wiping incident occurred roughly an hour into Trump’s Daytona Beach rally, where he was campaigning in elections that will decide control of Congress.
President Donald Trump wiped his eye with a napkin during his Florida rally on Friday
US President Donald Trump points a finger as he arrives to deliver remarks during a midterm campaign rally at Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida, US, October 30, 2026
The rally began nearly an hour behind schedule, a delay that has become familiar at Trump’s events, particularly since his 2024 general election campaign.
On Thursday, Trump launched into a body-shaming attack on a reporter who asked whether he had dropped the Kansas rally because he was ‘sick of travel.’
The president was returning from a South Carolina rally on Thursday afternoon and heading to the White House for Halloween celebrations with First Lady Melania Trump when he was questioned about the Kansas cancellation.
Trump had been due in Salina, Kansas, on Saturday to support Republican Senator Roger Marshall, who is facing an unexpectedly close reelection contest. Instead, he abandoned the scheduled appearance and planned tele-rallies from Mar-a-Lago, while also canceling a rally in Dubuque, Iowa. Both events have since been reinstated.
‘Oh, you’re sick to ask that question. You are sick,’ Trump told the Reuters reporter, asking who he worked for before calling him a ‘dope.’
He went on to say, ‘Look at this guy. He’s way out of shape. Look at how badly…,’ before adding, ‘You are disgusting. Put yourself in shape. You look like hell.’
Trump then moved along the line of reporters, continuing to voice his frustration.
‘He comes to me. “Sir, you’re not going to go to Kansas.” I’m not going to Kansas because he’s doing very well. I’m going to do a tele-rally. Tomorrow I’m doing Florida. He said, “What’s the reason?” After doing what? 28. He says, “What’s the reason for this, sir, that you’re not going to Kansas?”‘ Trump said, recounting the exchange that had taken place moments earlier.
‘You know what the reason is?’ Trump asked. ‘I don’t feel like I have to go to Kansas.’
A protester is removed as US President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a midterm campaign rally at Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida, US, October 30, 2026
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Earlier during Friday’s event, Trump was interrupted by at least three protesters whom he claimed were being paid by billionaire Democratic donor George Soros.
One of the protesters was a man wearing a shirt emblazoned with ‘Release the Files, ‘ an apparent reference to the files regarding convicted pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Friday’s rally also saw Republicans unleash blistering attacks on Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
Republican congressman Randy Fine, one of Omar’s colleagues in the US House of Representatives, used his appearance to launch an extraordinary broadside against Democrats and single out Omar, as well as Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
‘Many of the Democrats in Congress, they hate America,’ Fine told the rally crowd. ‘It isn’t that they have a different vision for this country. It is their goal to seek our destruction,’ he added.
Fine claimed Omar, Tlaib and Mamdani ‘seek to overrun us with Third-World migrants who do not share our values or our faith, and who do not respect our heritage or our history.’
He then vowed to file a motion to ‘expel’ Omar from Congress ‘if the evidence shows’ that she ‘is not a citizen of the United States.’
Gubernatorial candidate US Representative Byron Donalds, Republican from Florida, holds MAGA hats before throwing them to supporters as they wait for US President Donald Trump to speak at a midterm campaign rally at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida on October 30, 2026
Florida Republican Randy Fine, who is Jewish, said that his Muslim colleague Ilhan Omar should be kicked out of Congress
Trump later targeted Omar, saying she shouldn’t be allowed to serve in Congress as well.
The president also doubled down and made an eye-catching financial promise to voters, repeating his pledge to give $5,000 to every adult American citizen if Republicans win control of both the House and Senate, although he made them pledge that they would not spend the money abroad.
In his typical ‘weave’ fashion, Trump rapidly danced between subjects throughout the speech, at one point reminiscing about his hit NBC show The Apprentice.
‘If I did not do ‘The Apprentice,’ would I still be president?’ Trump asked, prompting supporters to insist he would.
He also turned his attention to the ongoing war with Iran, arguing Tehran had been waging war against the United States for decades.
‘America did not start the war with Iran. Iran has been waging war with America since 1979, killing thousands and thousands of people,’ Trump said.
‘We’ve taken the nuclear capabilities out of the hands of Iran,’ he added while touting US military strikes.
Trump also celebrated the January arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, declaring: ‘We love the Venezuelan people. We won the war with Venezuela.’
Florida Republicans, meanwhile, used the rally to make their closing pitches before Election Day.
Gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds ripped Democratic opponent David Jolly, a former Republican, as a ‘failed Republican’ and a ‘fraud.’
‘David Jolly is a Jolly come lately,’ Donalds joked.
Republican Senator Ashley Moody also attacked Democratic challenger Angie Nixon, declaring there were ‘stark differences’ between the candidates and branding her an ‘actual communist’ while pointing to her affiliation with the Democratic Socialists of America.
‘In four short days, I’m going to be your next governor,’ Donalds told the cheering crowd.