THE DAY OF RECKONING FOR U.S. POLITICS HAS ARRIVED. AMERICANS GO TO THE POLLS TO DECIDE WHO WILL CONTROL CONGRESS. THE OUTCOME WILL DETERMINE WHAT TRUMP IS ABLE TO DO IN THE NEXT TWO YEARS.
Trump rallies as Dems seek to control Congress
CLEVELAND • In his final pitch to voters, President Donald Trump implored Republicans on Monday to help preserve “fragile” GOP victories that could be erased by Democrats as he closes out a midterm campaign that has been defined by his hardline immigration moves and scattershot policy proposals. Trump’s shadow has hung over the midterm elections that will determine the future of his presidency, with the months-long fight serving as a testing ground for his nationalist appeals and the strength of the coalition that powered him to the White House two years ago. Acknowledging the stakes in the closing days of campaigning, Trump stressed to voters that everything is on the line when they go to the polls. “It’s all fragile. Everything I told you about, it can be undone and changed by the Democrats if they get in,” Trump told supporters on a telephone “town hall” organized by his re-election campaign. “You see how they’ve behaved. You see what’s happening with them. They’ve really become radicalized.” Trump spent the final day on the trail Monday in Ohio, the perennial presidential battleground, Indiana and Missouri. All three have Democrat senators fighting for re-election in states that Trump won two years ago, and his late interventions could tip the balance in his party’s favour. With hours to go until polls closed, he harshened his rhetoric on illegal immigration and lobbed attacks at Democrats. In a tweet, he warned that law enforcement was “strongly notified to watch closely for any ILLEGAL VOTING which may take place in Tuesday’s Election (or Early Voting).” Trump has falsely claimed that millions of illegal votes were cast in 2016, depriving him of a victory in the popular vote, and he has stoked concerns, without providing evidence, of rampant fraudulent voting. At the same time, he has sought to distance himself from any potential blame if Republicans lose control of the House. Whatever the outcome, Trump made clear he knew he was on the line. “In a sense, I am on the ticket,” he told a raucous crowd in Cleveland. He warned earlier on the telephone town hall to get out and vote because “the press is very much considering it a referendum on me and us as a movement.” Republicans are increasingly confident they will retain control of the Senate, but they face Democratic headwinds in the House. The Democrats need to gain 23 seats among the 435 in play to take control of the House for the first time since 2010. The verdict could dramatically alter the second half of Trump’s first term. If they win at least one chamber, Democrats have pledged to stifle the president’s agenda and start investigations into his finances, administration and Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election. Former president Barack Obama has served as the top headliner for Democratic candidates in recent days. “I’m hopeful that on Tuesday we are going to cut through the lies and the noise and the nonsense and I’m hopeful we are going to remember who we are,” he said at a rally Sunday in Gary, Indiana. Trump’s strategy, which includes heavy emphasis on divisive issues like immigration, risks backfiring on Republican candidates in suburban swing districts that likely will determine control of the House. Yet it may be effective in largely rural states where he remains popular and where many of the closest Senate races are playing out. There are 35 Senate seats up for election. Trump has maintained a busy campaign schedule in the final stretch of the race, with 11 rallies over six days. At his rallies and on Twitter, Trump’s closing argument has largely focused on fear — warning, without evidence, that a Democratic takeover would throw the country into chaos, spurring an influx of illegal immigration and a wave of crime. As he departed Washington on Monday, he said Democrats’ “weak stand” on the issue “means nothing but crime.” Speaking to a rally crowd in Georgia over the weekend, Trump made ominous references to the “antifa” far-left-leaning militant groups and a migrant caravan moving slowly toward the U.S.-Mexico border that he has called an “invasion.” Trump seized on the caravans of Central American migrants to reinforce an immigration message that recalls the racially charged immigration talk of his 2016 campaign. Faced with low Republican enthusiasm, Trump calculated that immigration would again be an animating issue for his base.