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Felicia Sonmez
National Journalist in the Washington Post Political Press Team
ROCHESTER, Minnesota – President Trump mocked former Senator Al Franken on Thursday night for resigning from Congress as quickly after being accused of sexual harassment and groping women, thus marking the president's latest contentious comments on the #MeToo movement.
"Boy, has it bent like a wet rag, huh? Man. Man. He was gone so fast. I do not want to mention Al Franken's name, okay? So I will not mention it. He was gone so fast. It was like, oh, he did something. "Oh, oh, oh, I'm resigning. I stop, I stop. Wow. He was gone and he was replaced by someone no one has ever heard of. Her name is Tina Smith, "Trump told the crowd in Minnesota.
Franken resigned in January after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. A photo appeared in November showing that Franken seemed to grope a journalist while he was touring the USO in 2006. When allegations were made last year, Democrats were divided on the point whether Franken should leave the Senate.
At Thursday's protest, Trump appeared to blame Franken for failing to fight the charges – as Trump has faced charges of sexual harassment or trial and error.
"You have to deny, deny, deny and repel these women," Trump said to a friend facing allegations of sexual assault, according to Bob Woodward's book "Fear".
He did not attack Keith Ellison, the Minnesota lawmaker and senior Democratic Party leader who is running the Attorney General, for being accused of physically and emotionally abusing his former girlfriend. Ellison denied the charges.
Even so, the president was more cautious than earlier in the week about his Supreme Court candidate, Brett M. Kavanaugh.
He refrained from attacking Christine Blasey Ford as he did Tuesday night in Mississippi while he imitated Ford's testimony and mocked him for not remembering some details of the night Kavanaugh would have assaulted her. These remarks sparked laughter and applause in the crowd earlier this week, but also drew criticism from Trump's party lawmakers, including key undecided Senators.
The president also did not repeat that he claimed that the # MeToo movement was the most threatened for men. And while he praised Kavanaugh and urged his confirmation, he was talking much less about the judge than earlier this week.
The rally is the third of four Trump this week. He will travel to Kansas on Saturday, the same day, a final vote is expected on the appointment of Kavanaugh.
Trump seemed a little less lively than usual and talked for about 70 minutes, and some members of the crowd seemed to leave early and lose focus from time to time.
The president made his usual speech, asserting without proof that the Minnesotians would lose their weapons and would see their 401 (k) accounts and their bank accounts dwindle if the Democrats won the elections.
He mentioned one of his favorite topics – the national anthem – and caused the nickname of Democrats, as he often does. "Maxine Waters, a legendary IQ," he said about a Democratic parliamentarian from California.
Trump is bragging about his crowd, falsely claiming that more than 40,000 people were recently outside a Missouri arena, as there was no room for them at home. ; inside.
He brought local candidates to the scene, who gave short speeches. "You really do not play the script, is not it," said Karin Housley, the Republican Senate candidate. "Jeez."
She then suggested that the president speak his name more often than Smith, the Democratic senator whose name, Trump, was repeated several times during the rally.
Trump refuted critics of his foreign policy, saying the media had unfairly blamed him for being too comfortable with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"They want me to participate in a boxing match with him," Trump said of the media's opinion about Putin. "I think I would do very well."
"Let me tell you, if I were really hard with Russia, they would say," It was too hard, "Trump said, that seemed like a tacit admission that it was not" really hard".
And he told stories about his meetings with world leaders, describing many of his businesses as remarkably easy, while telling a tortuous story about his keen business sense.
Thursday night, Trump scored concessions for the NFL of Canada on advertising during games. He did not elaborate on the details, but mentioned NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's expression of gratitude earlier this week.
The president, who privately expressed his frustration at the lack of progress with North Korea, sold the crowd claiming that there had been no missile launch since his talks with the leader. North Korean Kim Jong Un in Singapore in June.
With respect to health care, Trump said he "erased" the Affordable Care Act and advocated reducing premiums under the law.
"We will have a little more money from China. Everything will be fine, "says Trump, explaining how the government will fund health care for pre-existing conditions.
Trump, however, made several explicit moves for his supporters to vote in mid-term elections, informing the crowd that it would hurt him if they did not do so.
He told the allies in recent days that Kavanaugh could help Republicans increase turnout, and the crowd chanted savagely for the judge.
Trump's visit to Minnesota comes amid worrying signs for Republican House's campaigns: Capitol Hill's Roll Call newspaper announced it had tweaked its audience's results for a dozen congressional races on Thursday, all in one direction positive for the Democrats.
The councilors repeatedly told the president that the House could be in danger, even though he had fought the current elections.
"The only reason to vote Democrat is if you're tired of winning," said Trump, a line he's repeated throughout the rallies.
"Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House?", He said. "Please, do not do this to me!"
Although Trump did not mention the allegations of abuse against Ellison, he hit the Democratic legislator for his position on immigration. Trump also took note of the fact that Ellison was one of the few people who had predicted in 2015 that Trump had a chance to win the Republican nomination for the presidency.
Housley has called on the Attorney General to investigate Ellison, and other Republicans have increasingly sought to take advantage of accusations against other Democrats. Earlier Thursday, former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich tweeted praises Housley and said that Smith "can not defend Keith Ellison's record of violence against women."
The rally took place in Minnesota's 1st congressional district, where Republican Jim Hagedorn was fighting against Democrat Dan Feehan for a seat the political disabled would file in November. The seat occupied by the Democrats is released by the representative Tim Walz, candidate for the post of governor. District voters backed President Obama closely in 2012, but four years later, the district imposed a lot on Trump, who beat Hillary Clinton here from 53 percent to 38 percent.
Minnesota will also host two races in the Senate in November. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D) is on track to get re-elected, but Smith faces a more difficult time for her special election for the rest of Franken's term. A recent poll shows that Smith is leading Housley by 4 to 9 percentage points.
On his last visit to Minnesota in June, Trump predicted he would win the state in 2020. He narrowly lost it to Clinton in 2016, 46% to 45%.
Before the rally, Trump tweeted his support to Housley, Hagedorn and a trio of other candidates from the Republican House: Jason Lewis, Tom Emmer and Pete Stauber.
Lewis, who spoke briefly at Thursday's rally, made the headlines in the national press in July when CNN released 2012 sound recordings in which Lewis lamented on the radio that it was no longer acceptable to describe women as "sluts".
Sonmez reported from Washington.
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