President Donald Trump reiterated his wish for Republican voters to pretend he is on the ballot for the midterm elections, which he called “one of the most important elections.”
Trump closed out the Republican Party’s two-day midterm convention in a rambling speech Thursday night, urging Republicans to “get out and vote” this November. Otherwise, Democrats are poised to retake control of Congress.
“You gotta do me a big, the biggest favor you’ve ever done me. You’ve gotta do this for me. You’ve got to pretend I’m on the ticket,” Trump said.
“You got to get out and vote, and you’re going to pretend I’m on the ballot because, in a way, I am on the ballot,” he added. “Because if [Democrats] get in, they’re going to take away all of the things that we got, and we can’t let that happen.”
The president’s closing remarks were mostly a repeat of his previous speech the night before, but at one point, he did quip that Republicans may be eternally damned if they don’t vote this fall.
“You know what happens if you don’t vote?” he said. “You go to hell, and I don’t want that to happen to you. So please go and vote.”
On the second and final night of the first-ever midterm convention, Trump made a strong push for voters to reject socialist candidates, or, as he frequently calls them, “communists.”
An example of such a candidate is Michigan Democrat Abdul el Sayed, who is running against Republican nominee Mike Rogers for the Senate. Though el Sayed identifies as a capitalist rather than a socialist, he has the support of the Democratic Socialists of America movement.
“They’re not socialists. They’re not Democrats. They’re communists,” Trump said. “We will reject these radical-left lunatics. We will demolish the extremists, fanatics, lunatics, and criminals who want to destroy our country.”
Trump is doing his part to boost the party’s chances of winning the midterm elections by endorsing several Republican candidates running for the Senate. In his closing speech, Trump touted his endorsement of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running against Democratic nominee James Talarico.
TRUMP SAYS HE’LL BE A ‘BLOCKER’ AND CUT DEALS WITH DEMOCRATS IF THEY WIN CONGRESS IN 2026
“You’ve got to elect Ken Paxton,” Trump told the crowd before going on a tangent about how he has been critical of the way Paxton dresses.
That said, Trump called Paxton the “greatest attorney general” in Texas and the rest of the country. Paxton has served in that post for over 11 years.