Trump says Dems ‘extreme’ on migrants
Backs Ariz. Republican in tight U.S. Senate race
MESA, Ariz. — President Donald Trump, seeking to frame the choices for voters in the midterm elections, said Friday that Democrats are “too extreme and too dangerous” to take control of Congress.
On a three-day swing out west to make his closing arguments for Republican candidates, Trump has sought to home in on immigration as one of the defining election issues this fall by accusing Democrats of wanting “open borders” and encouraging illegal immigration.
Rallying thousands of supporters in an Arizona aircraft hangar for GOP Senate candidate Rep. Martha Mcsally, Trump warned of dire consequences if her opponent, Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, is victorious.
Trump, trying to hold on to Republicans’ narrow 51-49 advantage in the Senate, said a vote for Sinema “is dangerous” because it would empower Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
“The Democrat Party has become too extreme and too dangerous to be trusted with power,” he said.
Trump also had harsh words for Central American emigrants trying to travel through Mexico and reach the U.S. border, declaring they aren’t “little angels” but “hardened criminals.”
Asked what evidence he had that they are hardened criminals, Trump told a reporter: “Oh, please. Please. Don’t be a baby.”
Trump also claimed that Democrats want them to enter the United States because “they’re going to vote Democrat.”
Earlier Friday, during a roundtable at Luke Air Force Base, Trump said Mcsally, a former Air Force colonel and combat fighter pilot, is “brilliant and brave” and has a “very, very strange opponent.”
The two congresswomen are vying for the seat of Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, who is retiring. Mcsally was a Trump critic in 2016 and represents a Tucson district that voted for Hillary Clinton.
Trump campaigned Thursday in Montana on behalf of GOP Senate candidate Matt Rosendale. On Saturday he will visit Elko to support Sen. Dean Heller.