4 minPolitics
Trump Touts Expanded Power at Kentucky Rally and Ties Drug Plant Revival to GOP Wins
President Donald Trump rallied Republicans in Highland Heights, Kentucky, boasting of his self-proclaimed power and promising that the Defense Department would invest in a Kentucky drug manufacturing facility if the GOP holds Congress.
President Donald Trump told supporters in Kentucky that his second term has given him a level of influence he did not have the first time, using a rally to boost Republican turnout ahead of midterm elections in which his party is struggling. Speaking in Highland Heights, the president said, «I can do stuff that is unbelievable,» and described his current term as «much more powerful» than his first.
Trump pointed to his decision to change how the federal government refers to the Gulf of Mexico, now called the Gulf of America in official usage, as an example of his expanded reach. «I don't think I could have done this in my first term,» he said. «Google wouldn't have taken my call in the first. Now, they kiss my ass.» He also claimed to have renamed a Canadian lake, referring to Lake Ontario as «Lake America.»
The rally came as control of both chambers of Congress is at stake, and with it the prospect of Democratic-led investigations of his administration should Democrats win. Trump has put himself at the center of the midterm message, asking voters to «pretend that I'm on the ballot.» Republicans privately worry that growing disapproval of his administration is a liability, according to reporting on the event.
Trump's self-proclaimed power is set against voter frustration with how he has wielded it. Tariffs and the war with Iran have driven up prices, and more Americans see the president as looking out for his own interests rather than the country's. He has nominated one of his personal lawyers to serve as attorney general, ordered military strikes on accused drug smuggling boats, sought to put his name on the Kennedy Center, and enriched himself and his family while in office, the reporting noted.
In his remarks, Trump touched on gas prices and said the war with Iran would end soon, an assertion he has made repeatedly over the course of the nearly eight-month conflict. He predicted gas prices would drop lower than previously, drawing cheers from the crowd.
Facing electoral headwinds, Trump worked to paint a dire picture of Democrats in the final weeks before the midterms. He claimed that if the opposing party wins, the U.S. will «have a depression,» and that the Democratic platform includes abolishing the Senate and the Supreme Court. Those positions are not part of the Democratic Party's platform. Trump sought to link Democrats to the Democratic Socialists of America, which has had a few candidates win primaries this year.
He also repeated his promise that if Republicans win the House and Senate, every adult American would receive $5,000. Such a payment would most likely cost more than $1 trillion, require congressional approval, and worsen the country's nearly $1.8 trillion annual budget deficit.
Trump added a new, seemingly conditional promise aimed at Kentucky: if Republicans win, he said, the Department of Defense would invest in revitalizing a drug manufacturing facility in the state. He brought Ed Gallrein, the Republican candidate for the U.S. House who defeated Rep. Thomas Massie in the GOP primary, on stage. Massie had angered Trump by pushing for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and opposing the Iran war, and the president successfully backed Gallrein in the primary.
Massie still retains a following for standing on staunchly conservative principles, even when it meant voting against his own party. When Trump lashed out at Massie as a «jerk» and «loser» and praised Gallrein as a more loyal replacement, the crowd's response was tepid, with about half the arena clapping at Trump's barbs and the other half silent.
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