Trump is doing a rally in Las Vegas. Here will be tweets about it.
A roaring start even before Trump takes the stage:
Trump throws a hat. People scream. I Want It That Way plays. "The president has a weird thing for Backstreet Boys or something," the host of the Right Side Broadcasting web stream says.
"Except for a lot of the fake news that you see from these people back here" - BOOOO - "this is an incredible time for our country," Trump begins.
Trump says America is "being respected again," and the economy is the best ever, and if Hillary Clinton had won it would have been a "sad, sad period of time."
"Poverty is plummeting," Trump boasts. Government report last week showed that the poverty rate dropped from 12.7% in 2016 to 12.3% in 2017.
"Before I came in, it looked like we were going to war with North Korea," Trump lies again, boasting of his progress with Kim Jong Un: some remains returned, a pause in nuclear and missile testing.
Trump: "Remember the tears from the fake news media when it was obvious we were going to win. And you know what: they're still crying. Look at 'em, they're still crying. They're still crying. And let 'em cry. They don't know what the hell happened."
Trump implores people not to be "complacent" in the midterms. With more Republicans, he says, "We'll get everything we want so fast."
Trump on Dean Heller, whom he is rallying for: "I didn't like him, he didn't like me. And as we fought and fought and fought, believe it or not, we started to respect each other, then we started to like each other, then we started to love each other."
Trump calls Heller's opponent Jacky Rosen "Wacky Jacky," explaining, "She's WACKY."
Trump on Kavanaugh: "One of the finest human beings you will ever have the privilege of knowing or meeting. A great intellect, a great gentleman, an impeccable reputation. Went to Yale, top student, went to Yale Law School, top student. So we gotta let it play out."
Trump on Kavanaugh: "We'll let it play out, and I think everything's going to be just fine. This is a high-quality person."
Trump again calls out Maxine Waters, who is booed loudly, and "Cryin' Chuck Schumer, Cryin' Chuck," who is not. (Trump started calling Schumer "Cryin' Chuck" after Schumer got emotional in 2017 over the Muslim-focused travel ban.)
Dean Heller is speaking now. He begins by marvelling at the size of the crowd. Then tells Trump that Nevada veterans want to thank him for all of his work on their behalf. Then tells Trump that Nevada active troops want to thank him for all the funding.
For at least the 12th time, Trump falsely claims that presidents had failed to pass the Veterans Choice program for decades before him. (This time he says it took "46 years.") The Choice program was created in 2014 under Obama. Trump's law modified the program.
Trump says he needs help to "make things honest around here."
Trump says he is going to "drain the swamp." There is a "drain the swamp" chant. He says "Wacky Jacky" again.
This is the part of the rally where Trump, on-script, attacks the local Democratic candidate, providing material for the local Republicans' ads. It is usually followed by him no longer being on script any more.
Trump says the Democrats' new platform is "radical socialism," vowing, "I won't allow the United States of America to become the next Venezuela." There is a..."build that wall" chant.
"We started the wall a year ago," Trump lies for the 35th time of the wall he has not started. "We've done a lot."
Trump lies that Democrats voted for a wall in 2006. They voted for fencing. The law was called the Secure Fence Act.
Trump mentions Hillary Clinton. There is a very loud "LOCK HER UP" chant, the loudest chant of the night.
Trump: "A lot of people think that I'm always angry at Congress. I'm angry at Democrats."
Trump says today's Democratic party is held hostage by angry mobs, crazed socialists, etc. etc., "and their fake-news allies." He adds: "That's their best partner. That's their best partner." There is a "CNN SUCKS" chant.
Trump slams the media at length, then lies, for the 6th time, that the red lights of their cameras are "starting to go off" because they don't like the criticism. No station has ever turned off its camera during his media criticism.
Trump says that without the "fake news," Democrats would not even get 5% of the vote. "I'll tell you. It's true," he concludes.
For the 12th time, Trump lies that the New York Times apologized to its subscribers after the election. It made a sales pitch, not an apology.
Trump lies again that his election hurt the sales of the New York Times: "When we won, they suffered." The Times added 276,000 digital subscribers in the three months after the election.
Trump says that Americans voted to reject corrupt globalism: "Hey, I'm the president of the United States! I'm not. The president. Of the glooobe."
This is Trump's most concerted rally pitch for his supporters to vote in the midterms, which he often makes only passingly. This time, he frames it as his own election: "I want to give a victory speech. I want to give a victory speech on the evening of Election Day."
The NYT and others have been reporting that Trump's team is worried about Trump-supporter complacency caused in part by his predictions of a "red wave" and such. He seems to be responding.
"We've created more than 400,000 manufacturing jobs," Trump says of the 348,000 manufacturing jobs created during his presidency.
"We won big: 306. 223. REMEMBER?" Trump falsely claims for the 15th time of Hillary Clinton's 232 electoral votes.
"Remember when President Obama said you can't have manufacturing jobs anymore," Trump falsely says of Obama's 2016 comments on PBS. Obama said some particular manufacturing jobs were gone, but boasted of how many he'd brought back and how many America still has.
Trump is boasting of how he told African-American voters, "WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO LOSE? WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO LOSE? REMEMBER?" He says he did it because African-Americans have "the worst education, the worst home ownership" and such.
For the 26th time, Trump falsely says Asian unemployment is at a record low. (It was in May, but jumped back up to a higher level than at the end of the Obama era.) For the 27th time, Trump falsely says women's unemployment is at a 65-year low. (Again, was in May but jumped.)
Donald Trump: "I'm an environmentalist."
Trump keeps recounting his 2016 election victory, twice speaking in the voice of a newscaster announcing that Donald Trump is the next president of the United States.
"Democrats want to give welfare and free health care to illegal aliens," Trump says to boos, adding of Gavin Newsom, "How about this clown in California who's running for governor?"
"We have the cleanest air now in the world," Trump says of air the Environmental Performance Index ranks as the 10th-best in the world. "We have the cleanest water," Trump says of the U.S.'s 29th-ranked water.
"Donald Trump and Republicans will protect patients with pre-existing conditions. We're going to do that," Trump says. His administration is arguing in court that Obamacare's pre-existing condition protections are unconstitutional and should be voided.
Trump is again mounting an extended attack on Democrats' "Medicare for all" proposals, saying that would be an all-time disaster. We'll likely hear a lot of this for the next two years.
"You now have a president who's standing up for America," Trump says. "We're standing up for your values."
Trump is trying something new recently: arguing that "Democrats would bankrupt the safety net" with left-wing proposals and with proposals to pay for benefits for immigrants. After all he's proposed, he's positioning himself as the saviour of essential benefit programs.
Trump: Every time a king, queen, president or prime minister enters the Oval, they say to me, "Congratulations on what you've done with this country.' It's true.'" He then says that he has to amend it to "almost" every time or else fact-checkers will "get" him.
Trump: If you elect Democrats, all of my accomplishments "could all end very quickly."
Trump has concluded. He was stunningly dishonest by the standard of any other politician but on quite good behaviour for himself, and especially on-message in pleading for midterm turnout.
This stuck me as a noteworthy (new, I think) claim tonight.
