President Donald Trump has yet to embark on a robust midterm campaign schedule, and his handful of initial rallies have been far from targeted messages talking up GOP candidates.
In the most recent two trips to districts that could help determine whether Republicans retain control of the House, the president opted for the meandering signature speaking style he has dubbed “The Weave” and said relatively little about why voters should back those GOP candidates come November.
He was in Chippewa Falls, Wis., on Friday afternoon alongside Rep. Derrick Van Orden, who faces a reelection race that Inside Elections rates as Tilt Republican. The Cook Political Report has the race as a Toss Up.
Once onstage for the hour-long event, Trump dove into his conflict with Iran, his theories about interest rates and inflation, as well as an attack on what he called “crooked judges, crooked administrations, crooked politicians” that he has had to “fight.”
About 18 minutes in — or about eight minutes before his first mention of Van Orden — the president justified a project he has been overseeing in Washington, D.C., some 1,021 miles away by car.
