Trump Mocks "Mohammad" Name at Georgia Rally: "If You're in Doubt, Just Say Mohammad"
DALTON, Georgia — President Donald Trump turned the name Mohammad into a punchline during a campaign rally in Dalton, Georgia, on Friday, mocking Iran's presidency and the most common Muslim name while stumping for Republican candidates ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.
"You know, if you're in doubt about somebody's name from the Middle East, just say 'Mohammad,'" Trump told the crowd at a hangar at Dalton Municipal Airport. "You have about a 65% chance. 'Hello, Mohammad.' I've done it for years now. I've never been wrong."
The president made the remark while discussing Iran, which he mocked by claiming it was "the only country where nobody wants to be president." He then pretended to ask several men named Mohammad whether they wanted the job. Masoud Pezeshkian has served as Iran's president since 2024.
According to Reuters, which covered the rally, the Georgia crowd gave the joke a muted response.
Trump then brought the bit home by targeting Michigan's Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, a Muslim American. "I got a message from Abdul Albababababa Mohammed El-Sayed," Trump said. "So his middle name is Mohammed. I was right."
Rights advocates and Muslim advocacy groups have repeatedly criticized Trump's rhetoric, saying it demonizes Muslims, immigrants and ethnic minorities. The Council on American Islamic Relations attributed rising Islamophobia in part to the administration's crackdown on immigration and pro-Palestinian protests, in an annual report released earlier this year.
Trump has escalated such rhetoric during the midterm campaign season, particularly against Somali and Muslim Americans — including El-Sayed and Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who came to the United States as a Somali refugee.
The Michigan Senate race, which El-Sayed is contesting against Republican Mike Rogers, is one of the most expensive of the cycle and could decide control of the chamber. Friday's remarks landed the same day Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez transferred $1 million from her campaign to back El-Sayed, underscoring how central the Muslim progressive candidate has become to both parties' midterm messaging.
Trump also repeated his vow that Iran would never get a nuclear weapon, seven months after the United States and Israel launched a war against Tehran aimed in part at crippling its nuclear program. With midterms just 17 days away, the president's language is drawing fresh scrutiny from civil rights groups and Democrats, who say the comments normalize anti-Muslim bigotry on the campaign trail.
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