US President Donald Trump has urged Republicans to vote in November’s midterm elections, leading supporters in a pledge to turn out and warning that Democratic victories would threaten his administration’s agenda.
Closing the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, Texas, on Thursday night, Trump asked attendees to repeat a pledge to vote on November 3 or during early voting and bring their friends and families along.
"I pledge to the greatest president in the history of the United States ... I’m going to get my friends, my family, and we are going to vote on November 3, or we are going to vote before that ... I don't care if I'm registered or not. I'm going to try and cheat like hell, like they do," Trump told the crowd, accusing Democrats of electoral cheating.
After the pledge, he added: "You know what happens if you don’t vote? You go to hell."
Trump vowed to retain Republican control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, defying the historical tendency for a sitting president’s party to lose seats in midterm elections.
He warned that if Democrats regained power, they would "confiscate your wealth … destroy Texas oil and gas" and "set loose criminals to rob, rape and kill like we had just two years ago."
Trump touts his record
Seeking to rally his supporters, Trump claimed to have fulfilled all his campaign promises.
"In 19 months, I’ve delivered on every single promise I’ve made," he said. "We took that dark age of America and turned it into the golden age of America."
He pointed to stock market gains, lower prescription drug prices and increased military spending, saying his administration had made the US "the energy and military superpower of the world."
The president also touted his immigration policies, citing the near-elimination of illegal border crossings, and praised himself for passing measures through Congress for new tax breaks on overtime, tips, and Social Security payments.
‘The country does not belong to the radicals’
Vice President JD Vance, who delivered the night’s keynote address before Trump spoke, also urged Republicans to vote to preserve the party’s congressional majorities.
"Don’t give the country over to a bunch of crazy people because you happen to disagree with us on a policy issue here or there," Vance said.
"We got to send a message this November that the country does not belong to the radicals. It does not belong to the bureaucrats. It does not belong to the highest bidder."
Vance and Trump were not only rallying their voter base for the November midterms, but also for the 2028 presidential election, in which Vance is seen as being the heir apparent once Trump finishes his second term in the White House and is term-limited from seeking a third.
