Donald Trump spent his morning testing out a childish new nickname for rising Democratic star being hailed as the “next Obama.”
The 80-year-old president, who is currently in France for the G7 summit, lashed out at the potential 2028 candidate Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia as “Os(jerk!)off” in a Truth Social post at 8:50 a.m. local time.
Trump unveiled the nickname after his endorsed candidate, Rep. Mike Collins, defeated Derek Dooley in Tuesday’s Republican Senate runoff, setting up a showdown with Ossoff in November’s midterm election.
The Georgia Senate race is expected to be one of the most competitive contests of the cycle. Republicans believe Ossoff’s seat is one they can flip in a state Trump won in 2024, while Democrats are encouraged that the incumbent—whose charisma and public speaking skills have drawn comparisons to Barack Obama—is being challenged by a scandal-plagued MAGA candidate.
“So happy for highly respected Congressman Mike Collins. He will win his Senate Race in Georgia against a pathetic failed Dumocrat Senator, Os(j---!)off, who is a joke in D.C. Nobody even knows who he is!!!” Trump wrote, channeling his inner schoolyard bully.
“I’ll be doing Big TRUMP Rallies for Mike in Georgia! President DJT.”
The Daily Beast has contacted Ossoff’s office for comment.
Collins defeated former college football coach Derek Dooley, who was backed by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.
Collins, a political nepo baby whose father, Mac Collins, served in the House from 1993 to 2005, was already viewed as the favorite in the runoff before Trump weighed in with his last-minute endorsement.
The MAGA Georgia lawmaker and 2020 election denier has also been plagued by a series of controversies during his Senate campaign.
Collins fired his chief of staff, Brandon Phillips, after his campaign’s official X account made a vile remark about a woman who accused former NBC News anchor Matt Lauer of rape and later attempted to kill herself.
In May, Luke Thompson, a GOP strategist working on Dooley’s campaign, posted on X poll results to suggest that “Dooley beats Ossoff. Collins can’t.” Thompson’s wife was the woman who accused Lauer of sexual assault, which he denies.
In reply, the Mike Collins War Room X account told Thompson: “Matt Laurer’s [sic] sloppy seconds chiming in to take an L.” Collins later fired Phillips and apologized for the “offensive” post.
Collins and Phillips are also under investigation by the House Ethics Committee over allegations that Phillips hired his girlfriend as an intern to work on Collins’ campaign, paying her more than $10,000 for little or no apparent work.
In a statement, Ossoff blasted Collins as a “notorious bigot, antisemite, and extremist currently under federal investigation for the illegal misuse of tax dollars.”
“Collins, who is only a congressman because his daddy was a congressman, voted to double health insurance premiums for more than a million Georgians, for the Iran war, and for the Trump tariffs,” Ossoff said.
