Trump fights for GOP in final midterm sprint
CLEVELAND — In his final pitch to voters, President 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 racially charged rhetoric, 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 battle 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, and in Indiana and Missouri. With just hours to go until polls closed, he harshened his rhetoric on illegal immigration and lobbed attacks at Democrats.
In a Monday 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.
Republicans are increasingly confident they will retain control of the Senate, but they face Democratic headwinds in the House.
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.
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.”
With the election approaching, 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.