Trump touts Reflecting Pool revamp as Democrats eye control of Congress

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump turned his troubled renovation of Washington's Reflecting Pool into a final midterm election campaign pitch Monday, as forecasts pointed to sweeping Democratic gains that could upend the final two years of his presidency.

Polls show Democrats poised to seize the House of Representatives and within reach of the Senate in Tuesday's vote – giving them the potential power to block Trump's legislative agenda, launch sweeping investigations of his administration, and thwart his judicial appointments.

Yet with so much at stake, the 80-year-old devoted much of his closing speech to his efforts to spruce up Washington's landmarks, rather than inflation, the Iran war and other issues driving voter discontent.

"This is the last day before the midterm elections, the most important midterm I believe in our lifetime," Trump declared – 26 minutes into a rambling address focused largely on his renovation projects.

"This project should be a project that unites all Americans," he said of the Reflecting Pool.

The pool stretches between the Lincoln Memorial – where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963 – and the Washington Monument.

Trump said Sunday he chose the location "just to show how beautiful it is," despite a roughly US$15 million makeover plagued by peeling paint, algae, and repeated new repairs.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called the event a "pathetic closing message," accusing Trump of ignoring the war, alleged corruption and the rising cost of living.

Despite insisting there will be a Republican victory, Trump has already contemplated the prospect of having to govern for the first time with an opposition Congress.

"If we didn't win, I veto everything," he said in an interview released Monday by the New York Post's Pod Force One podcast.

- BITTER FINAL BATTLE -

While Trump made his closing appeal in Washington, Democrats planned final rallies in battleground states, including Texas and Kansas, where candidates James Talarico and Adam Hamilton hope to deliver extraordinary Senate upsets.

Neither state has elected a Democratic senator in decades, underscoring how far the electoral battlefield has shifted into traditional Republican territory.

But Democrats remain cautious about declaring victory, conscious that opinion polls can misjudge turnout and that Republicans have enormous resources to mobilize their supporters.

Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock described the party's mood to CNN as "nauseously optimistic."

The closing campaign has been marked by ferocious personal attacks, with Trump portraying Democrats as communists and warning that their policies would let migrants "ransack, rape and plunder" American communities.

He has also baselessly attacked Michigan's Muslim Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed as a jihadist.

Margins could be tight and Democrats were nervous over an internal spat in Michigan.

In a stunning last-minute rupture, Democratic congresswoman Haley Stevens on Sunday endorsed El-Sayed's Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, after a dispute with her former primary rival over Israel-related rhetoric.

Stevens had lost the Democratic nomination to El-Sayed in August despite establishment support.

- SENATE ON THE LINE -

The drama in Michigan reflects the importance of a Senate contest that remains considerably less certain than the battle for the House.

Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority, meaning Democrats must gain four seats to take control – a feat requiring victories in several states Trump won comfortably in 2024.

Decision Desk HQ projects a Democratic House majority of 241-194 and a narrower 52-48 Senate victory, although its forecast leaves considerable uncertainty over the upper chamber.

The final New York Times/Siena surveys, released Sunday, showed Democrats leading in all seven closely watched Senate races, but five of those advantages were within the polls' margins of error.

The stakes have helped fuel an extraordinary spending spree, with more than US$11 billion poured into political advertising and billionaire donors playing an increasingly prominent role.

Elon Musk, Trump's former advisor and the world's richest person, has contributed nearly half a billion dollars to Republican political efforts.

By contrast, the Washington Sun reported, citing federal election records, that Trump himself had made no personal donations to candidates this cycle – although political groups aligned with him have spent hundreds of millions.

For all the last-minute rallies, attacks and advertising, a record 57 million Americans have already cast ballots.

Yvonne Clouser, a military veteran and supporter of Republicans in Texas, told AFP the dire polls did not worry her.

"We're going to win. As a matter of fact, we've probably already won," she said. "Yes, we've already won, so help us God, because we stand on God. Socialism, communism doesn't."--AFP