Trump Tells Midterm Voters: ‘Pretend That I’m On the Ballot’
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President Trump tries boosting Republican candidates ahead of the midterms by tying them to him.
So I'm asking you. To pretend that I'm on the ballot. I'm on the ballot. Hammon. Just one more time.
Plus, Iran shows a new appetite for escalation as it takes direct aim at U.S. forces. And data center developers consider whether going nuclear can quiet growing public backlash against them. It's Thursday, September 10th. I'm Luke Vargas for the Wall Street Journal, and here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today. President Trump has capped off the first night of Republicans' midterm convention in Dallas, issuing a string of campaign promises in a bid to energize his GOP base. Trump wrapped up his nearly two-hour speech by pledging to make his tax cuts permanent, pass broad healthcare legislation, and much more in the final years of his term.
Our Washington coverage chief Damian Paletta was most curious how he'd assess the war in Iran, which has hit Americans' wallets going into the final weeks of the campaign.
He said, even though he knew it was going to drive up the cost of gas, something that he acknowledged remains the case, he had to do this in order to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon.
You know, it happens to me all the time. Guys come up, you know, I wish you didn't do the war in a rent, gasoline's up, ba ba ba ba. And I say, Well, let me ask you just smart people. Let me ask you not too many of 'em by the way. Let me ask you one question. Ken Iran?
Absolutely not. Now this did receive a lot of applause here at the convention, but it's something that many Americans are wrestling with, especially as oil prices continue to go up and gasoline prices are rising as well. It remains a very sensitive issue for many Republicans. And it gets to the heart of this affordability theme that Democrats are really trying to press on Republicans heading in to the final weeks before the midterms.
In an apparent bid to blunt that message, Trump took a big swing on affordability, telling voters that if they helped Republicans to retain control of both the House and Senate, every adult citizen would get a five thousand dollar check.
Very much like A successful company will do a cash distribution to its shareholders, or like last year when I gave our great members of the military seventeen hundred and seventy six, remember?
Damien said that pledge which resembles last year's unfulfilled promise of two thousand dollar tariff dividends, marks Trump's biggest election gambit yet.
This would essentially be like a one trillion dollar stimulus check on behalf of the US government to perhaps more than 200 million Americans. Now, President Trump does like to give out stimulus checks, and they can prove quite popular with voters. But this is a moment when inflation remains a key concern for many Americans and businesses. And checks like this on this scale could fuel an inflation that the Federal Reserve and the US government has struggled to contain for several years. So there could be a real debate for many Republicans running for Congress, running for the House and running for the Senate, whether they would support such a move, or perhaps they feel like this is President Trump's party, these are his policies, he knows how to do populist economic messages, and this is the kind of thing they're gonna have to get behind.
Well, in Dallas last night, Trump promised that oil prices would go down as soon as we win the war with Iran. Something he said was, quote, taking place right now. But as foreign correspondent Georgi Kanchev reports, the picture on the ground suggests otherwise, as Iran intensifies attacks on U.S.
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