Trump’s closing message to American voters highlights repairs to Reflecting Pool
asserted
message → highlight → Pool
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- Trump insisted that Republicans could hold onto Congress if voters who buoyed his 2024 victory turn out again.
- He flipped through photos of the damaged pool, describing in detail how crews resurfaced and re-caulked its granite.
uncertain
crews → insist → granite
After spending a month asking voters to treat the midterms as a vote on him, President Trump closed his monthlong campaign sprint on Monday sounding like a man bracing for defeat.
asserted
Trump → spend → defeat
“For some reason, the sitting president doesn’t win the midterms,” Trump said.
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Trump → sit → midterms
“But we gave this a very strong shot.”
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we → give → shot
Still, Trump said he hopes Americans are “ready to do the right thing” and insisted that Republicans could hold on to Congress if voters who buoyed his 2024 victory turn out again.
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who → say → victory
He urged voters to do so, calling this election “the most important midterm, I believe, in our lifetime.”
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I → urge → lifetime
The alternative, he warned, will be a “radical agenda” in Washington as he finishes his last two years in office.
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he → warn → office
“With your vote, we will decide if these extremists will be given power or not,” Trump said, claiming that the Democratic Party has “nominated the most extreme and dangerous slate of candidates in American history.”
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Party → decide → history
The message capped a dizzying campaign push in which Trump made himself the focus of the midterms as he held dozens of rallies in mostly Republican states.
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he → cap → states
In those rallies, he promised $5,000 checks and brighter days ahead to Americans who vote to keep Republicans in control of Congress.
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who → promise → Congress
But heading into Tuesday, most polls are predicting a Democratic wave amid a voter backlash to Trump’s handling of the economy and a war in Iran.
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polls → head → Iran
Democrats are heavily favored to retake power of the House and are leading in all the key states that would be the likeliest to decide which party will control of the Senate, according to a New York Times/Siena University poll released Sunday.
uncertain
party → favor → poll
But polling can be flawed, as evidenced by forecasts that underestimated Trump’s support in the 2016 and 2020 elections.
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that → flaw → elections
Trump’s approval rating is near historic lows this time around, the poll found.
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poll → find → lows
A separate NBC News poll released Sunday found nearly two-thirds of voters are seeking a change from the direction Trump is leading the country.
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Trump → release → country
The Trump administration’s broad assertion of executive privilege and politicization of the Justice Department could complicate oversight from a Democratic Congress.
uncertain
assertion → complicate → Congress
This year, early voting has already seen strong turnout, outpacing the last midterm election cycle, a trend that could mean bad news for Republicans.
uncertain
that → see → Republicans
If a Democratic surge materializes, party leaders have vowed to use their potential congressional powers to investigate Trump and his family’s business dealings, with a focus on alleged corruption and economic harm to the American people.
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leaders → materialize → people
Trump told Fox News on Sunday that if Democrats win control of both chambers he will “become Mr. Veto” and “make deals” with them, but hopes he won’t have to “worry about that.”
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he → tell → that
On the eve of the election, Trump’s message once again seemed to acknowledged that possibility, but his focus was largely focused on the numerous beautification projects his administration is leading in the nation’s capital.
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administration → seem → capital
His final pitch to voters was made in front of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, a landmark his administration has spent months trying, and at times failing, to repair.
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administration → make → times
For the first 20 minutes, he did not mention the election at all.
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he → mention → election
Instead, he flipped through photos of the damaged pool, describing in detail how crews resurfaced and re-caulked its granite, and worked to address the “tremendous algae” that covered the pool.
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that → flip → pool
“Look, it is not an easy thing.
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it → look → ?
It forms easily and I don’t think you’ll see too much,” Trump said as he showed a picture of the algae layered over the water.
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he → form → water
“The green, that’s not grass, that’s algae.
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that → ’ → ?
It took over the entire pool.”
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It → take → pool
The renovation has not gone as promised.
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renovation → go → ?
When he took on the project in April, he said contractors he knew would refinish the pool within weeks for about $1.5 million.
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he → take → million
The work wrapped up behind schedule at more than 10 times that cost, after algae blooms and a peeling blue liner forced crews to drain it again in July.
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blooms → wrap → July
Trump blamed vandals for the issues, but federal prosecutors in Washington attributed the problems to shoddy workmanship.
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prosecutors → blame → workmanship
Trump spent time listing numerous other renovation projects around the capital, arguing that the construction work shows how his presidency is delivering for the American people.
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presidency → spend → people
“Our country is strong, respected and prosperous once more and our capital is cleaner and safer and more spectacular than ever,” Trump said.
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Trump → say → ?
The appeal by the Trump administration comes just before the midterm election, and after federal judges rejected the bid to set aside the 20,000 California ballots.
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judges → come → ballots
His focus on renovation projects drew the attention of Democrats, who argued his message was out of touch with what American voters want from leaders now.
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voters → draw → leaders
“This is just [what] the median voter wants to hear — an update on various capital improvement projects in the District of Columbia,” Ashley Schapitl, a former Biden Treasury official, posted on X.
It was not the first time Democrats had poked fun at the president’s for being too focused on construction projects.
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Democrats → want → projects
At a rally last week, former President Obama said Trump “should be on HGTV,” ridiculing his ballroom project and the changes he has made to the Rose Garden and the Oval Office.
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he → say → Garden
“He has the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory,” Obama said.
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Obama → have → Factory
Trump has bristled at such criticism, insisting that renovations relax him and that he gets them done quickly.
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them → bristle → him
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
