The Kansas stop was the latest in a run of daily rallies, mostly in red states, aimed at motivating Republican base voters to turn out. "Pretend I'm on the ballot," has become Trump's midterm mantra, and the stakes here are real: incumbent Republican Senator Roger Marshall is in a tight contest with Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton, a Methodist pastor. A recent YouGov poll had Hamilton ahead by three percentage points, with others showing it closer.
Getting into the arena took endurance. Thousands of supporters queued from the morning for a speech that would not begin until 7pm. Cars parked across the freeway in a casino lot, and attendees walked nearly half an hour along the side of an arterial road to Heartland Credit Union Arena, waiting in full sun while Secret Service agents scanned entrants slowly. The venue did not fill until minutes before Trump appeared; it was basically full when he took the stage, though the crowd thinned in the second half.
On stage, Trump returned to familiar attack lines, opening with the riots in France and describing a nation "being conquered, looted and burnt to the ground by migrants, jihadists and communists." He singled out Democratic women, including Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Elizabeth Warren, Maxine Waters, Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and mocked Hamilton, Texas Senate hopeful James Talarico and Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. "I'm the president, I can call him whatever the hell I want," he said of El-Sayed, adding: "If you call somebody from that part of the world 'Mohamed', you're about 65 per cent sure to get it right."
Attendees voiced hardline views on migration. Emily Coello, 47, of Wichita, carried signs reading "no refugees" and "Justice 4 Jan6rs." "We just can't afford morally or financially or culturally to be invaded anymore," she said. Tracey Eberhart, 55, wore a shirt declaring "I would love a mean tweet and $1.79 gas right now," a relic of the Biden years. "I think politicians that are polished, they're lying to me half the time," she said. "I like that he talks to me like he's a real human being."
The rally unfolded against fuel prices of about US$4 a gallon for petrol and nearly US$6 for diesel, a tender point for voters Republicans promised cheaper prices during the 2024 campaign. Supporters acknowledged the frustration but did not blame Trump, even for the US-Israeli war against Iran that has pushed up global oil prices. "I'll take some high gas prices," Eberhart said. Some blamed Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky instead. "I know what Putin is, but Putin I think has been better than Zelensky," said Tonya Saum, 57, of nearby Goddard. "Zelensky's a real slime-ball."
At least six hecklers were removed by law enforcement during the evening, more than the usual one or two at each rally. Trump dismissed them as paid protesters. He again promised the Iran war would end soon, a pledge he has made since it began, and closed the night with his customary dance to the Village People's YMCA.