Midterms ‘a personal referendum’
Embracing his breakneck return to campaign politics, US President Donald Trump on Saturday argued that Republicans needed to control Congress by casting the midterms as a referendum on himself.
In a raucous rally in a sweltering gymnasium north of Columbus, Ohio, Trump pitched for the GOP candidate up in a special election next week and defiantly questioned the idea that, historically, the party that controls the White House suffers in the midterms, declaring “but I say why?”
“Why would there be a blue wave? I think it could be a red wave,” Trump said of his party’s prospects in November. “They want to take away what we’ve given. And we’re doing a lot of things people don’t even know about.”
Flanked by signs that read “Promises Made” and “Promises Kept,” Trump dished up plenty of red meat to the sweaty crowd.
He blasted the media as “fake news” and said journalists “were terrible people.” He went on a screed against illegal immigration and exaggerated the threat of violent gangs like MS-13. And he basked in cheers as the crowd chanted the campaign staple rallying cry, “Build the wall, build the wall.”
And Trump touted his supporters as “forgotten no more,” saying that they, and he, were the nation’s true “elite.”
“The elite. They’re more elite than me? I am better everything than they have, including this,” Trump said, pointing at his own head. “And I became president and they didn’t. Meaning you became president. And it’s driving them crazy.”
Trump relished playing the role of Republican kingmaker, bragging how the GOP candidates he’s opposed, like Rep. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, have lost. With Sanford, he mocked the time Sanford vanished to hike “the Tallahassee Trail,” which was likely meant to be “the Appalachian Trail.” Trump gave a full-throated endorsement to state Sen. Troy Balderson, who is facing Democrat Danny O’Connor, the Franklin County recorder, in tomorrow ’s special election to fill a vacant US House seat.
LeBron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon. He made LeBron look smart, which isn’t easy to do. I like Mike!”
Donald Trump | US President