In final push, Trump rallies in red states, offering a rosy and off-script message
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- Trump is rallying in Mississippi, Texas, Ohio, South Carolina and Kansas — longtime Republican strongholds where the party now worries its own voters may stay home.
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uncertain
voters → rally → Mississippi
During off-script riffs, Trump complimented a male Republican senator’s rear end and attacked a Democratic candidate as a supporter of ‘jihadists.’
asserted
Trump → compliment → jihadists
In the final days before an election that will decide control of Congress, President Trump’s closing argument — buoyant, digressive and characteristically off-script — is at times running headlong into the economic anxieties of the voters Republicans most need.
asserted
Republicans → decide → voters
With a war in Iran driving up gas prices for Americans, Trump is boasting to supporters that the conflict is making the country rich.
asserted
country → drive → supporters
At a rally in Georgia, he said his aides had urged him not to brag about the billions of dollars the United States was earning on oil from the war, since Americans are “paying a little higher” in costs because of it.
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Americans → say → it
But he did it anyway.
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he → do → it
“I said, I don’t give a damn,” Trump said.
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Trump → say → damn
“We are making a freaking fortune.
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We → make → fortune
Our country is getting stronger and stronger all the time.
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country → get → ?
And those pump prices are going to come down.”
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prices → go → ?
The moment underscores the gamble at the core of Trump’s final pitch to voters.
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moment → underscore → voters
With polls showing an overwhelming majority of Americans unhappy with the economy, the president is offering a portrait of national prosperity that many voters do not recognize, and pairing it with jokes and digressions that can seem to make light of their struggles.
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that → show → struggles
Tuesday’s results will be the clearest test yet of whether that message still moves his base, or whether the president has become a liability for a party at risk of losing Congress in part because of his sinking popularity.
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president → move → popularity
Signs of GOP anxiety are reflected in where Trump is spending his final days campaigning.
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Trump → reflect → days
Rather than courting swing voters in battleground states, he is leading rallies in Mississippi, Texas, Ohio, South Carolina and Kansas — states that have long been Republican strongholds but where the party now worries its voters may stay home.
uncertain
voters → court → Mississippi
Still, the president is insisting to voters that the country is succeeding, and he is making the election a referendum on his agenda.
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election → insist → agenda
“The world is falling apart, and we are doing better than we’ve ever done,” he told a crowd in Mississippi on Monday.
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he → fall → Monday
The next day, during a stop in Texas, he joked that the $5,000 he has promised Americans if Republicans win would not be enough for his supporters to eat a meal at Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach, Fla.
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supporters → joke → Beach
Michigan’s Senate race has become a battle over Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed.
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race → become → Sayed
He is embracing his role as a Republican target, while consistently promoting a progressive agenda to address voters’ economic worries.
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He → embrace → worries
The problem is that for $5,000 the most you’ll be able to buy is a hamburger and maybe a small dessert,” Trump said, laughing.
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Trump → buy → 5,000
“I’m not even sure you could buy that.”
uncertain
you → ’m → that
Democrats have criticized the president’s remarks, calling them dismissive of voters’ concerns.
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Democrats → criticize → concerns
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Trump boasting that the country was making money out of the Iran war was a “fitting” slogan for Trump’s White House.
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country → say → House
Trump’s personal oil and gas holdings are now estimated to be worth between $22.5 million and $81.6 million, up from $12.6 million to $46 million at the end of last year, according to a report released this week by congressional Democrats.
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holdings → estimate → Democrats
Joe Gruters, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, rejected the idea that the president has dismissed voters’ financial pain.
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president → reject → pain
“The president, I think, shows empathy about what we’re going through, and he is fighting like hell,” Gruters said in an interview.
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Gruters → think → interview
Asked to sum up Trump’s closing message, Gruters framed it as a choice between “common sense vs. crazy.”
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Gruters → ask → sense
When pressed on the economy, Gruters pointed to Trump’s push to limit federal taxes on tips and overtime pay, to create investment accounts for children and to bring back manufacturing jobs.
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Gruters → press → jobs
“He has transformed the Republican Party into the workingman’s party,” Gruters said.
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Gruters → transform → party
“He is all about trying to bring back jobs that will bring up real wages across the board.”
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that → try → board
But that message can be overshadowed with the off-script riffs that have long defined Trump’s rallies.
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that → overshadow → rallies
During a rally in Ohio, while praising Sen. Jon Husted, Trump detoured into remarks about the Republican senator’s backside as well as rapper Nicki Minaj’s.
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Trump → praise → backside
“I looked at his ass and I’ve never done that with a man before.
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I → look → man
It’s true.
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It → ’ → ?
Off the record: Women, yes, men, no, OK?” Trump said.
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Trump → say → Women
“By the way, I looked at one hell of a beautiful ass before, Nicki Minaj.”
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I → look → ass
At a separate rally, Trump turned his attention to Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan, saying that if elected, El-Sayed should be forced to pass through a metal detector before entering the U.S. Senate chamber.
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Sayed → turn → chamber
“Anyone with that record of support for jihadists would be screened and unable to get a seat on an airplane,” Trump said of El-Sayed.
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Trump → screen → Sayed
“They certainly should not give him a seat in the United States Senate.
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They → give → Senate
…and 26 more, not listed.
The Aporia
