Returning to Ohio for the second time in nine days, Trump warns a Democratic midterm win would trigger a depression

US President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Youngstown, Ohio, on Monday in support of Republican lawmaker Jon Husted. [Reuters]
US President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Youngstown, Ohio, on Monday in support of Republican lawmaker Jon Husted. [Reuters]

Donald Trump repeated his claim that Russia and Ukraine have agreed to halt strikes on each other's energy facilities — a so-called energy truce — even as neither country has confirmed any such agreement and Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure have continued.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday before departing for a midterm campaign rally in Ohio, Trump was asked about reports that neither Russia nor Ukraine had agreed to an energy truce. "They agreed," he said. "You know why? Because I said, 'You're agreeing.'"

Pressed on Russia continuing to strike Ukraine despite his truce announcement on Monday, Trump said he would "have to look at that" but insisted "both sides are continuing to violate the ceasefire."

Trump also said Vladimir Putin was more eager than Volodymyr Zelensky to reach a peace deal, and called on the two leaders to meet and "end this foolish war."

Asked whether Houthi rebel attacks on Saudi Arabia — the Iran-aligned Yemeni group — could affect the US midterm elections, Trump said he did not think so, but added: "The Houthis are misbehaving."

Trump then traveled to Youngstown, Ohio, where he launched a sharp attack on the Democratic Party and urged voters to back the Republican candidate.

"If the Democrats win the midterms, a Great Depression on par with 1929 will come and America will be ruined," Trump told the rally.

He singled out Sherrod Brown, the Democratic candidate for Ohio's Senate seat and a former senator, calling him a "radical left" figure who had "abandoned the interests of Ohioans and betrayed you."

On the federal search and seizure carried out that day at the home of Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democratic lawmaker from Minnesota of Somali descent, Trump sought to distance himself from the action while still disparaging her, saying "she is a disaster."

He went further, calling her "someone who came from one of the worst countries on earth" and denigrating Somalia by name.

Trump also claimed Iran would never obtain nuclear weapons and that the United States had achieved major successes against Tehran, though the bulk of his speech focused on touting his administration's economic record and attacking the Democratic Party.

The visit was Trump's second trip to Ohio in nine days. His quick return to a state with no shortage of competitive races elsewhere reflects apparent anxiety that Republicans could lose the Senate seat there.

In Ohio, Republican incumbent Sen. Jon Husted faces a tight race against Democratic challenger Sherrod Brown, the former senator.

Ohio backed Trump by wide margins in all three presidential elections since 2016, but public sentiment has shifted considerably amid high inflation, a sluggish manufacturing recovery and controversy over data centers.

Vice President JD Vance, himself a former Ohio senator, also visited the state on Friday. With Republicans holding only a 53-to-47 Senate majority, losing Ohio to the Democrats could put their hold on the chamber at risk.


mokiya@heraldcorp.com