WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump delivered a rambling, 50-minute address at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on November 2, the day before Americans voted on whether his party would control Congress, but the closing argument he promised bore little resemblance to a typical stump speech.
Trump meandered through detailed discussions of the Reflecting Pool's renovation, citing corroded pipework, algae growth and the basin's 'American flag blue' coating, only turning to the midterm elections after nearly 24 minutes of remarks. He opened the event with a joking suggestion to rename the Reflecting Pool after himself and called an aide to hold up photographs of old joints and rusted pipes, which he blamed on the prior administration's management of the century-old water feature.
The president discussed the pool's 330,000 square feet of coating, the granite lining with a purported 'million-year life,' and repeated claims about non-existent vandalism from a prior renovation attempt that he had fabricated months earlier. He also brought up a discredited allegation against former FBI Director James Comey regarding an Instagram post.
Trump did not address the elections until late in the speech, warning that electing Democrats would result in a slate described as 'communist jihadists' and making baseless claims about Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, whom he accused of referring to the United States as 'the House of Satan.' He also repeated inflated figures, claiming his administration had created '$25 trillion in wealth' and that '$22.5 trillion is being invested in the United States right now.'
The address drew scorn from Democratic circles, with one campaign operative calling it an 'absolute train wreck' and a Crooked Media host writing on social media that he 'can't believe he is actually making his closing argument speech about the reflecting pool renovations.'
Polling data released in the days surrounding the event showed Trump's approval at record lows, with a CNN/SSRS poll putting his support at 32 percent and Democrats leading the generic congressional ballot 49 percent to 39 percent. A Reuters/Ipsos survey had him at 31 percent in mid-October, with Democrats ahead by double digits.
Trump's appearance capped a month of campaigning in which he delivered rallies to smaller, less enthusiastic crowds in reliably Republican states where his party's candidates remain in danger of losing. With his approval ratings low and Democrats holding leads in key metrics, the midterm outlook for Republicans appeared challenging as votes were counted on Tuesday night.
