Trump goes full apocalypse in anti-Dems midterms message
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
President Trump speaks at a campaign rally ahead of the midterm elections in Park City, Kan., on Oct. 19. Photo: Kent Nishimura/AFP via Getty Images
President Trump is escalating his doomsday warnings about a Democratic takeover of Congress, painting a nightmarish vision of an America consumed by burning cities, economic collapse, mutilated children and the destruction of Western civilization.
Why it matters: Trump has long portrayed Democrats as an existential threat to the country. But in an effort to preserve Republicans' grip on Washington, he's taking that rhetoric to new extremes as he casts the election as a choice between Republican rule and national catastrophe.
At the same time, Trump is offering voters a financial incentive to keep Republicans in power: $5,000 checks for every adult American citizen if the GOP retains control of Congress.
- The pledge would cost more than $1 trillion and has no clear path to becoming reality.
What they're saying: "President Trump is the unequivocal leader, best messenger, and unmatched motivator for the Republican Party, and he is committed to maintaining Republican majorities in Congress," White House spokesman Davis Ingle told Axios in a statement.
- "The choice has never been more clear: doubling down on President Trump's winning, commonsense agenda or the Democrats' extreme liberal policies and obstruction."
Reality check: Even if Democrats take control of Congress, Trump will remain president and retain veto power over legislation they pass.
Here's what he's been telling voters.
America will burn like France
On Monday night, Trump told Kansas voters that under Democrats, America will burn like France, which is facing widespread student and union protests over public spending cuts and deficit concerns, per Reuters.
- "When you see burning steeples and raging fires in France, just remember that is what the radical Dumocrats want to do to America."
- Trump has blamed the riots in France on immigration, suggesting that border policies under Democratic Party leadership would unleash the same chaos in America.
Yes, but: The unrest in France has been driven by disputes over living costs and public funding. There's no evidence that Democrats in the U.S. want to take up similar forms of violence.
America will fall into another Great Depression
Trump predicts Democrats will cause economic catastrophe and trigger a depression similar to the one that began in 1929.
- "If the Democrats win you will have a 1929-style economic depression," Trump told Tennessee voters on Saturday. "I hope I'm wrong on that."
By the numbers: Unemployment peaked at roughly 25% during the Great Depression, compared with about 4% today.
What's next: House Democrats, should they gain power, plan to repeal Trump's tariff policy, bring back Affordable Care Act tax breaks and undo Medicaid cuts as part of a general affordability push.
Democrats will "mutilate your children"
In Arizona, Trump warned last week that Democrats want to "mutilate, cut your children."
- "I mean, they can do whatever they want, and they do. Your son leaves as Jimmy and comes back home in three days as Janet, and they don't even ask you," Trump said.
- "They can take your child out of school and do whatever the hell they want."
Reality check: Trump's claims about schools secretly performing gender-transition procedures misrepresent how such medical care works.
- Schools cannot perform gender-transition surgeries. Those operations take place in medical settings under relevant state laws.
Democrats will "get rid of the border"
Trump warned Democrats would dismantle the border and allow criminals from around the world to enter the U.S.
- He told voters in Kansas that "the Dumocrat agenda is a plan to extinguish Western civilization. They want to open the borders."
- Trump claimed prisons around the world will empty prisoners into the United States.
The other side: A coalition of Democrats have proposed using advanced technology to protect the border, while rejecting mass deportation strategies.
Trump: Democrats will take your guns — and wild animals will feast
Trump also warned that Democrats will "take away your guns" if they control Congress.
- "You know who would love that to happen? Some of the wild animals you have up here that like eating you," he told voters in Montana. "... They would gain a lot of weight."
Context: Mainstream Democrats have not called for repealing the Second Amendment.
- While some Democrats support banning certain types of guns, that's different from eliminating the constitutional right to own firearms.
Democrats will destroy farms
Trump also warned that Democrats would "decimate Kansas farms."
- On Monday, the Trump administration announced $8 billion in relief for farmers facing soaring fuel costs, driven in part by Trump's own policies and the Iran war.
What's going on: Democrats have been making a push in farm country by appealing to rural voters in Kansas and Iowa.
- House Democrats have also proposed expanding support for rural development and family farms.
