President Trump ridiculed Sen. Jon Ossoff’s nearly $3,000 campaign payments to a Hollywood makeup artist at a Dalton rally, telling voters it is time to fire the Democrat and elect Mike Collins.
President Donald Trump used a Friday rally in Dalton, Georgia, to hammer Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff over campaign cash spent on professional makeup, contrasting it with his own bare-bones routine and calling on supporters to replace the incumbent.
Fox News reported the remarks as midterm Election Day drew closer, with Trump framing the spending as out of touch and urging a switch to Republican Mike Collins.
The dig landed on a July report from the Washington Free Beacon that cited federal campaign finance disclosures. Ossoff’s campaign had paid makeup artist Stephanie Ponder $2,887 since February. Ponder’s credits include work on films such as “The Notebook” and “The Hunger Games.”
Trump told the crowd he keeps it simple. He said he applies only a little himself so he does not look washed out under the lights.
Before the laughter settled, he drew a sharp line with Ossoff’s approach.
"And by the way, I wear very little, and I do it myself,"
Trump said, adding the practical reason that keeps him from skipping it entirely.
"Because if you don't put a little on and you look a little bit like a dead person, and I don't want to look that way."
He then turned the spotlight on the senator’s team and the running tab.
"He's got the makeup artist. They're in there all the time. I don't know how he does it, but he spends a fortune,"
The New York Post added that Trump claimed Ossoff spends more on makeup than any man or woman in Senate history and more than any other 2026 federal candidate, noting the women are not happy about it. The same account put the campaign payments at nearly $3,000 since February to the same Hollywood artist.
Trump did not leave the critique hanging. He paired it with a direct pitch for the Republican challenger.
"It's time to fire Jon Ossoff and elect Mike Collins, one of the most respected men in Washington,"
Collins received the full-throated backing while Trump also praised other Republican candidates on the Georgia ticket. The makeup line became the memorable jab in a state that remains central to Senate control.
Campaign finance rules let candidates pay for image services with donor dollars. Voters still get to decide whether thousands routed to a big-screen makeup artist count as smart politics or wasted polish. Trump’s Dalton crowd heard the contrast in plain terms: one candidate does it himself, the other keeps the artist on call.
That message fits a broader pattern of Trump pressing results over optics, the same focus that has driven historic low illegal border crossings under his enforcement approach.
Ossoff offered no on-stage reply in the available accounts. The disclosures and the rally remarks now sit side by side for Georgia voters to weigh as the midterms tighten.
Similar scrutiny of priorities has followed other Trump decisions, including moves on Russia sanctions policy that drew sharp international pushback.
The Free Beacon reporting first flagged the Ponder payments in July. Trump simply carried the number onto the rally stage in October and asked why a sitting senator needs Hollywood-level help to face a camera.
Administration legal fights have followed the same insist-on-accountability thread, as when the Trump team sought to remove a Biden-appointed judge over alleged bias.
In Dalton the ask was simpler. Fire the senator who spends donor money on a movie-set makeup artist. Elect the man Trump called one of the most respected in Washington.
Georgia voters have seen enough glossy campaigns. They can tell the difference between a candidate who fixes his own face and one who keeps the artist on payroll.
