Trump stump: Preserve ‘fragile’ GOP margins
CLEVELAND — In his final pitch to voters, President Trump implored Republicans yesterday to help preserve “fragile” GOP victories that could be erased by Democrats.
“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’s shadow has hung over the midterm elections that will determine the future of his presidency, with the monthslong 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.
“In a sense, I am on the ticket,” he told a raucous crowd in Cleveland.
Trump spent the final day on the trail in Ohio, the perennial presidential battleground, with further stops planned in Indiana and Missouri.
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.
Trump 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.”
Trump has maintained a busy campaign schedule in the final stretch of the race, with 11 rallies over the past six days.
As he departed Washington yesterday, Trump said Democrats’ “weak stand” on the immigration “means nothing but crime.” Speaking to a rally crowd in Georgia over the weekend, Trump made ominous references to the “Antifa” far-leftleaning militant groups and a migrant caravan moving slowly toward the U.S.-Mexico border that he has called an “invasion.”