Trump Rallies for Rogers in Michigan as Minaj Joins the Midterm Push
Seven Lights
President Trump held a rally in Port Huron, Michigan, on Sunday for the Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, with the rapper Nicki Minaj joining him onstage a little over a week before the November 3 midterms that will decide control of Congress.
Ms. Minaj, who travelled with the president aboard Air Force One and appeared in a gold suit, said Mr. Trump “has changed the energy of the country” and “has given us a future to look forward to.” She led the crowd in chanting the names of Michigan’s Republican candidates and said, “We really need all these great people to be elected, because this is a major turning point for our country.” She has called herself the president’s “number one fan,” despite criticism of some of his first-term policies.
Mr. Rogers, a former representative, is locked in a close race with the Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, a former health department director. Former president Barack Obama campaigned with Mr. El-Sayed on Saturday, one of the first rallies of the cycle for the Democratic candidate. Both parties are pouring money into Michigan, widely rated among the contests that will decide the Senate.
Mr. Trump devoted much of his remarks to attacking Mr. El-Sayed’s Muslim faith and background, alleging that he would “invite jihadists” into America if elected. Mr. El-Sayed has called such remarks Islamophobic, saying in an advertisement last week that the president “thinks he can use my name and my faith to distract us from the suffering his policies are inflicting on us at the pump, at the grocery store, and at the doctor’s office.”
The president also returned to comments he made this month in Kentucky about the physique of Senator Jon Husted of Ohio, a former college football player, dismissing press coverage of them as “fake news” and saying the remarks were made “in fun.” He then drew the crowd’s attention to Ms. Minaj, asked her to stand, and inquired whether she was “insulted.”
Ms. Minaj posted a video filmed aboard Air Force One in which she affected an interview for the job of White House press secretary. The position has been vacant since Katie Zacharia left it five days after a difficult public debut.
Michigan’s race remained neck and neck as both parties pressed their closing arguments. The elections on November 3 will determine which party controls Congress for the remainder of Mr. Trump’s presidency.