"Pretend Im Running" He Tells The Crowd Forgetting Why They Are Loosing
Patricia Mazzei and Shane Goldmacher
Reporting from Dallas
New York Times
President Trump delivered an extended director’s cut on Wednesday of his pitch to keep Republicans in power. He spoke for nearly two hours at this year’s unusual midterm convention. But his message could also be summarized in a single line.
“Please pretend that I am running,” he said.
The president had used the line before, as he had many other parts of his speech. But he did roll out a potentially $1 trillion surprise: a questionable offer, light on details, to send $5,000 to every adult citizen — only if Republicans keep control of Congress.
The two-day gathering in Dallas was not calibrated as an opportunity to reach independent voters who could decide competitive House and Senate races. Instead, Mr. Trump and his allies tried to gin up enthusiasm among MAGA voters who tend to go to the polls in presidential elections but not in midterms.
Mr. Trump noted that the sitting president’s party typically lost in midterms. “We’re going to change that,” he said.
Some Republicans who spoke ahead of the president tried to touch on the biggest issues for voters, including the high cost of gas, rent and groceries. Mr. Trump dismissed those concerns as overblown.
Here are seven takeaways from Day 1 of his first-of-its-kind midterm convention:
Trump’s take on affordability: ‘It’s fake.’
Polls show the biggest liability for Republicans in the midterms is the high cost of living, and several candidates in competitive contests who took the stage before Mr. Trump made a point to emphasize the issue.
Less so the president.
“I’m bringing the prices way down,” he said. Democrats “caused it,” he said of high prices, “but we’re fixing it.” Gas prices, he insisted, will be “going down as soon as we win the war with Iran.”
Mr. Trump also defended his trade war with other nations, with a familiar riff about how “tariff” is one of his favorite words. The import fees remain unpopular with a majority of voters, and have put fresh pressure on Republicans in states such as Alaska and Michigan, which depend heavily on imports and international trade. Mr. Trump also bragged about his White House ballroom project, which polls show is also unpopular.
Can he do that? The president offered to pay Americans if they keep Republicans in power.
Mr. Trump dangled the possibility of issuing a “dividend” to every adult citizen if Republicans hold their House and Senate majorities. “It will be called the Trump dividend,” he said. He added that the money would have to be spent domestically, without specifying how such a program would be tracked.
He offered few further details. Such a payment would likely cost the government more than $1 trillion.
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| Federal laws prohibit expenditures to influence voting, though Mr. Trump framed the payment as one that would be provided later, as an economic incentive. In 2024, Elon Musk offered people who signed a petition a chance to win $1 million. It still faces legal challenges. |
John Fetterman appears on a screen as people walk past.
Senator John Fetterman appeared via video to introduce his fellow Pennsylvania senator, Dave McCormick, a Republican.Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York Times
One of the biggest surprises came from a Democrat.
Senator John Fetterman’s appearance via video — introducing his fellow Pennsylvania senator, David McCormick — marked a potential turning point in a soured relationship with his own party.
“Yes, I’m a Democrat. Why am I here talking to you today?” he said. “Because, well, I am a common-sense Democrat.”
He received a warm if not rapturous reception as he invoked the industrial heritage of western Pennsylvania, “We’ll work with President Trump to fight and defend the steel way of life, right here in the steel valley.”
But the specifics of what Mr. Fetterman said mattered less than his making the appearance at all.
The video sent an unmistakable signal about the depth of his rupture with the Democratic Party, and is sure to reverberate on Capitol Hill and in Pennsylvania in the days to come. However, Mr. Fetterman said in a statement afterward that he would remain a Democrat “should the Senate flip in November.”
Most Senate Republicans in battleground states focused on their rivals, not on Trump…
Michael Whatley was Mr. Trump’s handpicked chairman of the Republican National Committee before he became the party’s nominee for Senate in North Carolina this year. But Mr. Whatley spent virtually none of his time speaking on Wednesday praising the president who elevated him. Instead, he eviscerated the Democrat he is running against, former Gov. Roy Cooper.
Representative Mike Collins of Georgia, who is challenging Senator Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, sought to undercut Mr. Ossoff’s record on immigration. Senator Jon Husted of Ohio, who is defending his seat against former Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, mentioned Mr. Trump just twice in his five-minute speech — the same number of times he mentioned former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general and Republican Senate nominee, received a speaking slot in his home state. He used it to heap praise on Mr. Trump, days after the president had dispatched $10 million from his super PAC for Mr. Paxton’s election bid. Mr. Trump “delivered more for this country than anyone before, secured victories for America that no other president could.”
Mr. Trump returned the favor, sort of: He pumped up Mr. Paxton more than any other Republican candidate in his speech, hailing his ally’s record and ripping his Democratic challenger, James Talarico, early and often. “If I have to, I will come back twice or three times” to campaign on Mr. Paxton’s behalf, the president said.
But Mr. Trump did not let Mr. Paxton go unscathed. Mr. Trump first ribbed the way Mr. Paxton dressed last week. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump renewed his criticism of Mr. Paxton’s appearance and attire to a much larger audience. “He may not be the best looking guy I’ve ever seen,” Mr. Trump said, “but you know what, he is — he’s the greatest attorney general in America.”
Planet Trump?
Mr. Trump is big on renaming things, including after himself.
The war in Iran has been among the thorniest political issues facing Mr. Trump and Republicans this year. But the president made light of the conflict at times on Wednesday, pooh-poohing those who complained about high gas prices and floating a new name for the narrow waterway through which so much of the global oil market flows.
The Strait of Hormuz, he said, should be retitled the “Trump Strait.”
“I should get something out of it,” he said of the conflict. “The Trump Strait.”
Other bodies of water he insisted that he would rename included Lake Ontario (to Lake America), and he raised the possibility of renaming the Pacific or Atlantic oceans (“I don’t think we can do both”). He again floated renaming the state of New Mexico “New America.”
‘I don’t have to say the same stuff twice.’
Mr. Trump basked in the attention of speaking to an adoring crowd for nearly two hours. “I’m having a lot of fun, because everybody loves me, and I love everybody,” Mr. Trump said as he repeatedly veered from his prepared remarks.
Then, he reassured everyone that his scheduled appearance on the second night of the convention would be a mere send-off.
“I gave you a lot of material,” he said. “I don’t have to do it twice.”
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