Washington.- U.S. President Donald Trump kicked off the campaign for the midterm elections next November with a rally in the state of Iowa, in the midst of a crisis over the murder of two American protesters by immigration agents in Minneapolis (Minnesota).
The president assured during his speech, held on the outskirts of Des Moines, that he has managed to considerably reduce crime in Minnesota by expelling “thousands of offenders and cruel and horrible criminals”, referring to undocumented immigrants.
The president also called “left-wing agitators” and “paid insurgents” the people who have demonstrated against the aggressive immigration raids of recent weeks in Minneapolis, a city with a Democratic majority.
Trump used the same qualifiers when he was briefly interrupted by protesters within his own rally: “You know they are paid agitators, right? In some cases they are paid insurrectionists. They are psychopaths,” he said.
Despite the harshness in his electoral rally, Trump has lowered his tone in the last hours about what happened in Minnesota and has promised an “honest” investigation into the death of Alex Pretti, a U.S. citizen shot dead on Saturday by immigration agents, the second death after that of Renée Good on January 7.
Election Campaign with Weekly Trips
He has also relinquished command of the operation in Minnesota and has opened channels of communication with local Democratic authorities in search of a “de-escalation” of the situation.
His stop in Iowa is, according to the White House, the first of the weekly trips within the United States that the president intends to make for the campaign for the elections of next November 3rd.
Last December, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, anticipated that Trump plans to actively engage in the midterm election campaign, as if it were the 2024 presidential election, in which he defeated Democrat Kamala Harris.
The president also plans to hold a large Republican Convention before the midterm elections, similar to the one organized for the nomination of the presidential candidate.
On November 3, Americans will vote to renew the entire House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate, in addition to electing 36 governors and other local officials.
For Trump, these are key elections that will determine the second half of his second and final term, as the narrow majority that Republicans hold in Congress is at stake.
Democrats, for their part, have intensified criticism of the Trump Administration for the high cost of living, including housing and healthcare, an issue that has generated discontent even among sectors of the president’s own base, who criticize him for having dedicated too much time in his first year in office to international affairs.
