This is a long article, but holy smokes...what an awful little man. So let's make today exactly what Trump's asking for, a Referendum on HIM! #VoteToday #TuesdayThoughts #VoteBlue
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nyti.ms/2yQIOFC
2/"President Trump on Monday closed out an us-against-them midterm election campaign that was built on dark themes of fear, nationalism and racial animosity in an effort to salvage Republican control of Congress for the remaining two years of his term. Mr. Trump’s fiery,
3/"invective-filled campaigning produced what may be the most polarized midterm contest in modern times as he played to tribal rifts in American society in a way that no president has done since before the civil rights era. The divisions exposed and expanded over the past few
4/"weeks seem certain to last well beyond Election Day. On Tuesday, voters will choose a new House, decide one-third of the seats in the Senate and select new governors for battleground states that will be critical to the 2020 presidential campaign. On the line for the president
5/"will be his ability to legislate, build his promised border wall, appoint new judges and ultimately set the stage to run for a second term. More than most midterms, this election became a referendum on Mr. Trump, as he himself has told his audiences it would be.
6/"The president’s energetic rallies appear to have bolstered Republicans who were trying to match Democratic fervor, rooted in antipathy for Mr. Trump. Even before Election Day, 36 million ballots were cast, with early voting higher than four years ago in 25 states and the
7/"District of Columbia. Democrats appeared poised to recapture control of the House and governors’ mansions in key Midwestern states, but Republicans were confident they would hold onto their razor-thin 51-to-49 majority in the Senate and possibly even build on it.
8/"A split decision could set the stage for two years of partisan warfare led by subpoena-powered Democratic committee leaders intent on investigating everything from the president’s taxes to Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election.
9/"Mr. Trump spent Monday barnstorming the Midwest on behalf of allies in close races, drawing loud and enthusiastic crowds of thousands. At rallies in Cleveland; Fort Wayne, Ind.; and finally here in Cape Girardeau, his remarks were laced with his usual acerbic attacks on his
10/"adversaries — “radical,” “left-wing socialists,” “corrupt,” “the Democrat mob” — and accusations that Democrats would raise taxes, destroy Medicare and take over the American health care system. “The Democrat agenda will deliver a socialist nightmare,” Mr. Trump said in
11/"Fort Wayne. But he again reserved his most vitriolic language for immigration, repeatedly prompting loud boos as he warned that if Democrats win, they would invite murderers to come into the United States to kill men, women and children. “Democrats are inviting caravan after
12/"caravan, illegal immigrants to flood into our country,” Mr. Trump boomed in Cleveland. He falsely said that Democrats want to give health care benefits to undocumented immigrants and are openly encouraging undocumented immigrants to vote. Led by President Barack Obama, who
13/"has attacked his successor in a sharper, more sustained way than any former president in decades, Democrats sought to make the vote not just a decision on immigration, health care and other issues, but a test of the nation’s values. “The character of this country is on the
14/"ballot,” Mr. Obama, his voice hoarse from days of campaigning, said during an appearance on Monday in Virginia on behalf of Senator Tim Kaine and Jennifer Wexton, a top House prospect. “Who we are is on the ballot,” Mr. Obama said. “What kind of politics we expect is on the
15/"ballot. How we conduct ourselves in public life is on the ballot. How we treat other people is on the ballot.” Long before Mr. Trump, presidents have waged fierce campaigns during midterm elections, often demonizing the other side. When he was in office, Mr. Obama painted
16/"Republicans as zealots ready to sacrifice Medicare, education and other priorities on the alter of tax cuts for the rich. President George W. Bush accused Democrats of being willing to wave the white flag of surrender to terrorists. But Mr. Trump has gone even further, not
17/"only taking on individual Democratic officeholders by name, which most presidents avoid, but also ridiculing them and insulting them with playground-style taunts. Describing himself as a “nationalist,” Mr. Trump has vilified immigrants, both legal and illegal, in racially
18/"charged language that was once considered unacceptable in national politics. “What you didn’t have” in past midterms “was a systematic and very personally addressed series of attacks and very inflammatory and frankly untrue images and arguments being used,” said Anita Dunn,
19/"a Democratic consultant working on races in Ohio and elsewhere. “What’s most interesting about it of course is it is in many ways a strategy that is designed to exacerbate his biggest negatives.” Democratic strategists predicted that it would backfire. “The president’s
20/"campaign efforts over the last two weeks should be counted as an in-kind contribution to the Democratic Party,” said Guy Cecil, the chairman of Priorities USA, a Democratic “super PAC.” “Instead of allaying the fears of many suburban and exurban voters, he confirmed
21/"everything that Democrats have been saying about him for two years at the same time he was motivating our base.” But Mr. Trump’s supporters cheered him on, embracing a leader they said was finally taking on the cosseted elites and guarding the country against outsiders.
22/"Advisers to the president said his foes take his campaign rally language too literally; as outrageous as it might seem, it is more entertainment, intended to generate a crowd reaction. “The challenge for Republicans in a midterm election when you control everything is a lot
23/"of your voters are complacent,” said Marc Short, a former White House legislative director under Mr. Trump. “Trump has the challenge of how do I get my people who maybe don’t love Republicans in Congress to turn out. There’s evidence to show that he’s making progress in that.
24/" Asked by reporters on Monday if the elections were turning as much on his style of leadership as anything else, the president said, “I don’t think so, but, I mean, I’m willing to accept that.” He made no effort to distance himself from the harshness of his campaign,
25/" including an advertisement it produced that was deemed racist and was ultimately rejected by several networks, including his favorite, Fox News, as too offensive to air. “A lot of things are offensive,” Mr. Trump said. “Your questions are offensive a lot of times.”
26/" In an interview released later in the day, however, Mr. Trump expressed some regret for the tenor of his two years in office. “I would like to have a much softer tone,” he told Sinclair Broadcasting, attributing his no-holds-barred style to a desire to get things done.
27/"He suggested he could change after the midterm. “I would love to get along, and I think after the election, a lot of things can happen,” he said. “But right now they are in their mode and we are in our mode. And you know, if you’re criticized, you have to hit back, or you
28/"should.” Mr. Trump used the final day of the campaign to raise the possibility of voter fraud. “Law Enforcement has been strongly notified to watch closely for any ILLEGAL VOTING which may take place in Tuesday’s Election (or Early Voting),” he wrote on Twitter.
29/"“Anyone caught will be subject to the Maximum Criminal Penalties allowed by law.” The president offered no basis for suggesting large-scale fraud was likely. “There are a lot of people, a lot of people, in my opinion and based on proof, that try and get in illegally and
30/"actually vote illegally,” he said. But the invocation of voter fraud could foreshadow Mr. Trump’s reaction if Democrats win the House. After he lost the popular vote in 2016, he explained it away by asserting, without any foundation, that three million illegal immigrants
31/"voted. For his last campaign swing of the cycle, Mr. Trump stuck to territory he won in 2016, urging supporters not to believe red-state Democrats who tack to the middle near Election Day, like Senator Joe Donnelly of Indiana. “He’s gone rogue on the Democrats because now he
32/"likes Trump a lot,” the president said. But “on Wednesday, they go back to who they are.” Mr. Trump grew visibly annoyed with protesters who kept popping up throughout his Fort Wayne rally, noting that he had not seen many lately and then beginning to taunt them directly.
33/"“Go home to mommy,” he told one protester. “Can we have our law enforcement take him out of here, please?” After the third protester of the event, Mr. Trump blamed the disruptions on his host state. “I don’t know what it is about Indiana, but I’m not surprised,” he said.
34/"“That’s Indiana for you, going back home to mama.” Underscoring the emphasis on his conservative base, Mr. Trump was joined at his last rally by the radio host Rush Limbaugh, who was born and raised in Cape Girardeau, on the banks of the Mississippi River. Mr. Limbaugh’s
35/"family is such a fixture here that the courthouse is named for his grandfather and tourists are offered a self-driven tour of the broadcaster’s childhood home, school and first radio station. Mr. Trump also brought onstage two Fox News personalities, Sean Hannity and
36/"Jeanine Pirro, both of whom gave short speeches promoting him. After the campaign initially said Mr. Hannity would be a “special guest” at the rally, Mr. Hannity denied that he would be participating, saying he would be covering it and interviewing Mr. Trump.
37/"“I will not be on stage campaigning with the President,” he tweeted. When he took the stage after all, Mr. Hannity said he was surprised to be invited to the microphone. For his part, Mr. Limbaugh defended Mr. Trump against the charges of promoting discord.
38/"“They say we’re divisive, but we’re not divisive,” Mr. Limbaugh told the crowd. “We’re defending an America that has strayed from our founding. Nothing to do with race. Nothing to do with gender.
39/"Nothing to do with any of these identity-political labels. It has to do with culture. It has to do with defending the Constitution.” ~Peter Baker, Michael D. Shear & Katie Rogers, NYT, 11/6/18 #VoteToday
