Trump goes on offensive at rally
GREAT FALLS: President Donald Trump lobbed personal and derogatory attacks at two Democratic senators, mocked the #MeToo movement and vouched for President Vladimir Putin of Russia on Thursday during a freewheeling, raucous rally ostensibly intended to solidify support for Montana’s Republican Senate candidate.
Taunting Sen Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass, with a refusal to apologise for calling her “Pocahontas”, Mr Trump imagined a debate during which he would gently throw an ancestry testing kit at Ms Warren to make her prove the Native American heritage she has controversially claimed.
“We are going to do it gently because we’re the #MeToo generation, so we have to be very careful,” the president said to scattered laughter, adding that he would donate US$1 million to charity if Ms Warren followed through.
Mr Trump, who has faced accusations of sexual assault and harassment, announced earlier in the day that Bill Shine, who was ousted from Fox News over his handling of the network’s harassment scandals, would take a position on his administration’s communications staff.
Mr Trump was in Montana, he unabashedly told the crowd, to settle a political score with Sen Jon Tester, a Democrat who is tangled in a tough re-election campaign with Matt Rosendale, the state auditor. The president blamed Mr Tester for the failed nomination of Dr Ronny L Jackson as head of the Veterans Affairs Department because he raised concerns about Jackson’s professional conduct.
“Jon Tester said things that were horrible and that weren’t true,” Mr Trump said, even as he conceded that he had pushed a reluctant Mr Jackson to accept the nomination and endure the confirmation process. “That’s probably why I’m here. I won Montana by so many points, I don’t have to come here.”
The president criticised Mr Tester’s voting record, which included opposition to the Republican tax overhaul and Mr Trump’s judicial nominees, a critique later offset by his praise of “landmark” veterans legislation that Mr Tester pushed for. But Mr Trump eventually broadened his verbal assault to include a number of familiar Washington opponents: the news media (“75% of those people are downright dishonest”), his own Justice Department (Hillary Clinton “gets special treatment”) and Rep Maxine Waters, D-Calif (a “low IQ individual”).
“Democrats want anarchy, they really do,” Mr Trump said, adding that he intentionally called the party “the Democrat Party” because “Democratic Party sounds too good.”
“And they don’t know who they’re playing with, folks,” he added.
As the crowd cheered and pounded on the bleachers during the roughly 70-minute speech at the Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls, Mr Trump embellished on his favourite exaggerations and falsehoods, including his margin of victory in the Electoral College, the country’s trade deficits and crowd size. He complained about negative coverage of his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, claiming that President Barack Obama “would have loved” to have had a meeting with Mr Kim.
And he slammed critics who suggested that he was not prepared for his coming meeting with Mr Putin in Finland, dismissing Mr Putin’s background as a head of Russia’s intelligence service.
“Putin’s fine,” Mr Trump said. “He’s fine. We’re all fine. We’re people. Will I be prepared? Totally prepared. I’ve been preparing for this stuff my whole life.”
“Getting along with Russia, and getting along with China and getting along with other countries, is a good thing,” he added, “not a bad thing.”