A Robot Stand-In and a Tired Voice
Trump seemed to be feeling the strain of a packed October travel calendar when he took questions in the Rose Garden. With a laugh, he said that if his voice gave out, the campaign push would still be in “great shape.” After all, he noted, “it is one voice.”
Then he floated an idea. One of the “beautiful robots” being built these days, he said, could be made to look exactly like him and sent out to rallies. The machines, in his words, are “pretty good” now. That would leave him free to stay home and watch the events on television.
Two Rallies in One Day
The joke followed a heavy stretch. Trump had just wrapped a day with stops in both Arizona and Montana, where he was working to rally Republican voters behind candidates for the Senate and for governor. The Arizona event was aimed at energizing support for gubernatorial candidate Andy Biggs.
The pace has been steady. The day before the Arizona and Montana stops, Trump held a rally in Alaska. He and Vice President JD Vance have spent much of October on the road for Republican candidates, hoping to improve weak polling that could otherwise open the door to Democratic wins in the midterms.
The Remarks on Leakers
The Arizona speech produced the sharper headlines. Veering into the subject of leaks, Trump, who is 80, said that in his opinion leakers “should be shot.” He repeated the line and added that in “the old days,” leakers were in fact shot.
He then turned toward the press section and argued that reporters were nearly as bad. His reasoning was that journalists, in his telling, “leak” false information, often with no source behind it. He claimed some reporters invent their sources entirely, offering the example of a story saying Trump was “extremely unhappy” that turns out to have no real source. “They’re like storytellers,” he said.
Online Backlash
Social media users wasted little time responding. One person pointed out that the comment came from someone known for telling stories at length for hours. Another asked who it is that fuels violent rhetoric in American politics. A third suggested Trump “knows it’s over” and might as well “go out in a blaze of glory.”
What to Watch Next
With the midterms close, the campaign schedule shows no sign of easing. Trump and Vance are expected to keep up the travel as Republicans try to turn their numbers around. Whether the robot idea was purely a joke or a sign of a tiring pace, the real-life rallies are likely to continue until Election Day.
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