President Donald Trump told supporters in Kentucky that he exercises far greater influence in his second term than he did in his first, using a rally aimed at boosting Republican turnout to promise that the Defense Department would help revive a drug manufacturing facility in the state if his party wins the midterms.
Speaking in Highland Heights, Trump riffed on his decision to change how the federal government refers to the Gulf of Mexico, now called the Gulf of America in official usage, and said such a move would have been unthinkable during his first term. «I don’t think I could have done this in my first term. This is a much more powerful term,» Trump 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 display of self-assured power comes as Republicans confront difficult midterm headwinds and as voters express frustration with how the president has used his authority. Tariffs and the war with Iran have driven up prices, and more Americans say they see the president looking out for his own interests rather than the country’s. With control of both chambers of Congress at stake — and with it the prospect of Democratic-led investigations of his administration — Trump has placed himself at the center of the campaign, asking voters to «pretend that I’m on the ballot.» Republicans privately worry that growing disapproval of his administration is a liability.
During a wide-ranging speech, 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 that gas prices would fall lower than they had before, drawing cheers from the crowd. He also worked to paint a dire picture of Democrats in the final weeks before the midterms, claiming that if the opposing party wins the country will «have a depression» and that the Democratic platform includes abolishing the Senate and the Supreme Court. Those proposals are not part of the Democratic Party’s platform; Trump sought to associate them with the Democratic Socialists of America, which has seen a handful of candidates win primaries this year.
Trump also revived his promise that if Republicans win the House and Senate, every adult American would receive $5,000. Such a program would most likely cost more than $1 trillion, require congressional approval and deepen the country’s nearly $1.8 trillion annual budget deficit. He added a new, seemingly conditional commitment for Kentucky: that if Republicans win, the Department of Defense would invest in revitalizing a drug manufacturing facility in the state.
The rally was intended to bolster Republican candidates including Ed Gallrein, who is running for the U.S. House. Trump brought Gallrein on stage, highlighting the primary race in which Gallrein defeated Rep. Thomas Massie. 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 party primary. Massie retains a following for standing on staunchly conservative principles, even when that 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 the president’s barbs and the other half silent.