Trump's new pitch for Republican candidates — they're really good looking

President Donald Trump has a new pitch for Republican candidates: they're easy on the eyes.

“Look at this beautiful guy," Trump said at a Saturday rally in Kentucky, referring to U.S. House candidate Ed Gallrein, a former U.S. Navy SEAL with an angular face who stood nearby the stage. “Central casting.”

That's a common refrain from Trump, who owned the Miss Universe beauty pageant and grew his clout on the reality television show “The Apprentice” before entering politics. Aesthetics have long been part of the president's measuring stick, either as a source of praise or target for ridicule.

Now, Trump is deploying his handsomeness appraisals as he boosts Republican candidates in a midterm election which already includes debates over which candidates are more masculine. The outcome will determine whether Republicans keep control of Congress or Trump faces emboldened Democratic opposition in Washington.

Soon after Trump touted Gallrein's beauty on Saturday, he mentioned Sen. Jon Husted, the Ohio Republican running for reelection, and described him as “a perfect person, good-looking guy.”

“I examined his ass,” said Trump, eliciting laughter. “I never did that with a man before. I examined his ass. And then I looked at his shoulders. I looked at his feet. I looked at his hand. I looked at his jawline."

It was a reprise of Trump's droll assessment from an earlier rally in Ohio, when he also touted Husted's past as a college football player.

Not all Republicans are so lucky, as Ken Paxton has learned.

“I don’t really like the way he looks,” Trump said about the Republican Senate candidate in Texas during the party's midterm convention as Paxton stood nearby grinning.

Trump previously said that “it’s so insulting to him, but I might as well say it." He added that Paxton's conservative record as attorney general “speaks a lot louder than the suit he’s wearing that doesn’t look so great.”

Democrats are far from safe from the president's visual judgments. Trump says Paxton’s opponent, Democratic candidate James Talarico, reminds him of Alfred E. Neuman, the freckled, gap-toothed MAD magazine mascot.

And he had a disparaging assessment of Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Democratic heartthrob with a jawline rivaling Husted's. Trump compared him to Pee-wee Herman, the comedy character with a waxy face and widow's peak, while rallying for Ossoff's opponent, Rep. Mike Collins, in Georgia on Friday.

“Somebody said, 'He's a good-looking man,' I don't think he's a good-looking man,” Trump said. “I actually think Mike Collins is a good-looking man, and he's all man.”

He then moved on to Republicans' nominee for Georgia governor.

“And I actually think that Rick Jackson is a very handsome, distinguished, beautiful-looking guy," Trump said.

"But anyway."

President Donald Trump listens as Georgia gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson speaks at a campaign rally at Dalton Municipal Airport, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, in Dalton Ga. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Georgia U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., at a campaign rally at Dalton Municipal Airport, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, in Dalton Ga. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Kentucky Republican congressional candidate Ed Gallrein, right, shakes the hand of President Donald Trump at a campaign rally at Truist Arena at Northern Kentucky University, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026, in Highland Heights, Ky. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at Truist Arena at Northern Kentucky University, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026, in Highland Heights, Ky. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Israeli police say they are investigating an attack on diplomats in the occupied West Bank.

Meanwhile, an airstrike in Yemen killed three children and wounded others. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels blamed Saudi Arabia for the attack.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Saturday. Read our full coverage here.

Israeli police say they have opened an investigation into an alleged assault on diplomats in the occupied West Bank. Their statement cites footage circulating online that appears to show several diplomats being attacked in the village of Taybeh.

Public broadcaster Kan reported that the diplomats included representatives from France, Belgium and Poland. In a separate statement, Israel’s military said the visit had not been coordinated with it and no soldiers were at the scene.

Violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians has surged during the annual olive harvest. Activists say authorities do little to stop it. An attack on Friday seriously injured several people, including a Washington Post photographer.

“The Israel Police condemns violence of any kind and will work to complete these investigations until everyone who took part in these cases is brought to justice,” the police statement said.

Police said they had contacted Israel’s Foreign Ministry to help locate those who were attacked.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that he was “very disturbed” by footage of an attack on Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

“We’re very disturbed by those images and what we’re seeing,’ he said, adding that the Trump administration has asked the Israeli government to “crack down on that stuff.”

Iranian-backed Houthi rebels say airstrikes from Saudi Arabia killed three children in Yemen's southwestern province of Dhamar.

The Houthi-run health ministry said the strikes the day before hit houses in al-Ar village in Dawran Aness district, also wounding more than a dozen people.

The Houthis blamed Saudi Arabia for the strike, which comes amid heightened fighting between the group and the kingdom and its Yemeni allies. Saudi Arabia didn’t immediately comment.

The children are among 124 people the Houthis say have been killed in their territories since fighting resumed in September, according to the ministry.

Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine was undergoing surgery on her finger, which was nearly detached from her hand after she was beaten by settlers in the West Bank, her daughter said.

Ashley Milner told The Associated Press that Levine also has a broken rib and multiple broken vertebrae as well as lacerations.

Levine said the perpetrators — armed with bottles and slingshots — “were kicking me for like 10 minutes and I was trying to hold onto my cameras and my bag.”

She said her helmet and protective vest, marked “PRESS,” likely saved her from more serious injuries.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said two vessels transiting through the Persian Gulf off Saudi Arabia were struck Friday. One tanker was fired upon from a small boat with an RPG that damaged part of its rear, and the other was struck by an unknown projectile, it said.

The UKMTO monitor did not identify the vessels but said the crews were safe. No one claimed the strikes.

There has been an uptick in attacks since U.S. President Donald Trump late last month rejected a Tehran proposal to end the war and open the strait, though indirect negotiations have continued.

On Saturday, Iran’s state broadcaster cited the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as saying a supertanker carrying crude oil struck a naval mine and caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz. It was unclear when the incident occurred.

Separately, a skiff carrying armed men opened fire on a tanker carrying liquefied natural gas in the Arabian Sea off Yemen, UKMTO reported. There were no reports of casualties. No group claimed responsibility.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said his government will implement “any measure” to defend its ally Saudi Arabia amid increasing attacks by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen.

Addressing King Salman and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, el-Sissi said his country would do what it takes to defend them. He said that if needed, he would convene parliament for an emergency session to authorize such measures.

Israeli strikes killed four people across Gaza, according to hospital officials.

One strike killed two people and wounded several others east of Gaza City, according to Shifa hospital. Another killed a 14-year-old boy in the central city of Deir al-Balah, according to al-Aqsa hospital, and the third killed one person in the southern city of Rafah, according to the Red Cross field hospital.

Israel's army said it struck Hamas and Islamic Jihad military operatives in those areas but did not immediately respond to the strike in Rafah.

The attacks came more than a year after a ceasefire deal was reached between Israel and Hamas, during which Israel continued to launch deadly strikes on the enclave.

A Saudi helicopter gunship crashed in southwestern Saudi Arabia, killing its two-member crew, the Saudi-led coalition fighting against Yemeni Houthi rebels said Sunday.

Coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said in a statement the AH-6i helicopter crashed in the city of Najran due to technical malfunction.

The coalition statement came hours after Iranian-backed Houthis claimed in a statement that they shot down a Saudi Apache over Najran while conducting “hostile activities” toward the Houthi fighters on the border with Saudi Arabia.

Al-Malki apparently mocked the Houthi claim in a post on X. Attaching a screenshot of the Houthi military spokesman’s statement with images of AH-6i helicopters, the Saudi officer said the gunship has yet to join the war.

This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

Palestinians and activists collect olives following an attack by Israeli settlers in the West Bank village of Abu Falah, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Israeli soldiers stand beside a wounded Palestinian man lying on a road after soldiers shot him following a settler attack on Palestinians harvesting olives in the occupied West Bank village of Abu Falah, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)