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Trump boasts of momentum as likely Supreme Court victory nears
ROCHESTER, United States, Oct 5, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – President Donald Trump
shrugged off signs of trouble in midterm congressional elections, telling
supporters in Minnesota on Thursday that his bruising fight to get Brett
Kavanaugh onto the Supreme Court will galvanize a surprise victory.
“This is supposed to be a Democrat state,” he told a roaring crowd in
Rochester, in the heart of Minnesota farm country.
“They have a very big surprise coming, don’t you think?”
The supporters — many decked out in the red hats of Trump’s 2016
presidential campaign and already gathering 2020 reelection bid — cheered
wildly.
Polls point to a possible retaking of the House of Representatives by the
Democrats on November 6, with a tough fight for the Senate also in the cards.
Even losing just the lower house would end the Republican grip on Congress
that has given Trump a free ride in the first two years of his controversy-
filled presidency.
It would also open the way to Democrat-chaired House committees opening
probes into sensitive areas like Trump’s financial arrangements, which have
so far been largely off limits.
But at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester, Trump was in bullish mood.
To cries of “I love you Donald!” he insisted that the extraordinarily
bitter struggle over Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation would ignite
Republican victory.
Kavanaugh’s once near-certain confirmation ran into a minefield of sex
assault allegations, quickly transforming into a pitched political battle
that Democrats believe will hurt Republicans among women and independent
voters.
But hours after senators in Washington indicated they were nearing a
confirmation vote over the weekend, Trump told the nationally televised
audience that Democrats had miscalculated.
“All you have to do is look at the polls over the last three or four days
and it shows that their rage-fueled resistance is starting to backfire at a
level that nobody has ever seen before,” he said to ear-splitting cheers.
– True believers –
Americans are more deeply divided than they have been for years, but in a
series of campaign rallies around the country, Trump is trying to ensure that
his fervent base will make its voice heard in the crucial elections.
Disgust with Washington politicians, pride in the military, celebration of
the booming economy, rejection of trade deals, disdain for journalists —
Trump hit all his talking points in Minnesota and the crowd loved it.
“Drain the swamp, drain the swamp!” they chanted.
“We love him. He’s done so much for the country. He’s done amazing things
on trade and he’s not scared of other countries,” one supporter, Chris
Layfield, 70, said.
“It’s the first time the country’s been shaken up after so many other
presidents all followed what the one before did,” she said, echoing a
widespread desire to end business as usual in Washington’s sometimes near
dysfunctional politics.
Unable to get a seat in the main arena, Layfield went to watch a big screen
in the overflow room — and hoping Trump might even come through the heavily
guarded doors from the arena.
“I really just want to see his face in person,” she said.
BSS/AFP/MRI/0826 HRS