Donald Trump has urged supporters to treat November’s midterm elections as a personal vote on his presidency, warning that Democrats could seek to impeach him if they regain control of Congress.
Speaking at a rally in Durant, Oklahoma, the president said: “Pretend I’m running, please, because I am on the ballot. And if we don’t win, they’ll end up impeaching me.”
He also warned the crowd: “They’re going to ruin our nation if they’re allowed to get back into office.”
The remarks come with less than a month to go before the elections, in which control of Congress will be contested. Trump has already been impeached twice by the US House of Representatives, in 2019 and 2021, and was acquitted by the Senate on both occasions.
Last month, the House tabled a resolution seeking to impeach him. It was sponsored by Al Green, the outgoing Democratic representative for Texas.
Trump’s appeal to Republican voters
Thursday’s rally was not the first time Trump has used an unusual appeal in an effort to mobilise his supporters for the midterms.
At the Republican Midterm Convention in Dallas last month, he asked those attending to make a pledge to vote. “Please raise right your right hand. I pledge to the greatest president in the history of the United States. That loves us so much he can’t even breathe,” he told the crowd.
Trump then said: “That I will go out with my family, my friends, I’ll do it any way – I don’t care if I’m registered or not, I’m going to try to cheat like hell like they do… and we are going to vote on November 3.”
He also joked with attendees: “You know what happens if you don’t vote right?” Trump supplied the answer himself: “You go to hell.”
Democrats have said they intend to investigate members of the president’s family and Cabinet if they regain control of one or both chambers of Congress.
Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, and the cryptocurrency businesses associated with the president’s sons are among the Democrats’ targets.
Ruben Gallego, the Democratic senator for Arizona and a potential 2028 presidential contender, said Kushner was at the top of his list of people to investigate.
“The President’s son-in-law is negotiating with Saudi Arabia. He’s negotiating on behalf of us, and also having clients in Saudi Arabia,” Gallego said.
Kushner’s private equity firm, Affinity Partners, secured a 2 billion dollar investment from the Saudi Public Investment Fund in 2021. Democrats have spent years seeking information about the Gulf money, but Kushner has rejected their requests.
In April, Jamie Raskin, now the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said Kushner could not “both be a diplomat and a financial pawn of the Saudi monarchy at the same time”.
Gallego also criticised the Trump administration over household finances, saying: “They’ve driven up the cost of living for everybody… you can’t buy a home” and “gas prices are going to the roof”.
Republicans are facing closely fought Senate contests in Texas, North Carolina and Alaska, while the race in Kansas is within the margin of error, according to current polling.
