President Donald Trump amped up his pleas to his supporters ahead of the midterms, calling on them to “promise” to pretend he is on the ballot.
Trump, 80, spoke in Mobile, Alabama, on Friday night, even though there are no competitive races of note in that state in November. He was there, he said, as a “sign of respect.” He will return next weekend for the college football game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs in Tuscaloosa.
Trump, whose party faces projected losses in the House as voters express dissatisfaction with his handling of the economy, begged viewers to treat the election as if it were not just a midterm.
“This election, I’m asking you to pretend that I’m on the ballot,” he said. “Here’s what happens: when I’m not on the ballot, we don’t do well. We have 44 percent or 48 percent less people. When I’m on the ballot, we get everybody. So, just close your eyes and pretend I’m on the ballot.”
Later in his speech—with rows of empty seats visible in the upper levels of the University of South Alabama’s Mitchell Center—Trump circled back to his ask.
“Think of it: I don’t need the votes. I’m doing this, you know, I’m doing this and I’m not running for anything,” he said, sounding exasperated. “But you’re going to think of me as on the ballot, right? Everybody promise?”
Trump’s request came three weeks after he essentially offered a bribe to voters amid signs of a blue wave reminiscent of 2018: $5,000 to every adult if Republicans held onto both the House and Senate. Paying that out would cost around $1.35 trillion—and would require congressional approval. Yet Trump reiterated the offer on Friday.
“If the Democrats win, you will have an economic depression, in my opinion, the likes of 1929. Not a good time,” he claimed. “If the Republicans win, you’ll each have $5,000 in your pocket and economic success for your country like we have never seen before.”
Yet Trump simultaneously continues to downplay Americans’ concerns about the cost of living—an issue that he largely campaigned on in 2024.
“They keep talking about affordability, you know? It’s a f— it’s a word that the Democrats gave. They created a tremendous problem,” he said.
“We’ve done nothing but bring prices way down,” he said later, even though gasoline and diesel prices are higher now than before the Iran war. “And when the war with Iran is over, which is going to be very soon… oil prices will come tumbling down.”
