In his final in-person appearance before Tuesday’s consequential midterm elections, President Donald Trump stood near the Lincoln Memorial and spent most of his time blathering about all the construction projects his administration has launched in Washington.
The president joked in front of a small audience that he would rename the Reflecting Pool after himself before presenting, one by one, a series of photos meant to showcase the administration’s renovation of the site.
“This is a massive piece of, uh, piece of pool,” he said before turning around and admiring the Reflecting Pool, Trump’s multimillion-dollar renovation project that has faced issues like peeling blue sealant and an aggressive return of green algae.
Trump also rambled about grass, top soil, rusted pipes, Corinthian columns, graffiti, types of stone, the ballroom, the helipad, statues and monuments, and Washington’s crime and homelessness levels. He also railed against James Comey, the former FBI director that Trump has directed his Justice Department to repeatedly target.
“Like the human being, grass has a life also,” he philosophized.
After 23 minutes, Trump turned to some midterm topics — repeating his Islamophobic and anti-trans rhetoric while claiming that the Democratic Party “nominated the most extreme and dangerous slate of candidates in American history.”
“We’ll defend our country, our culture and our heritage for generations to come,” he said. “We’re going to keep it the way it is. We’re going to make it better, and just.”
He soon pivoted back to his renovation projects.
“So I just want to say that we’re very proud of what’s behind me, but we’re much, even more proud of all the statues that we’ve done all over Washington, and even more proud than that of having stopped crime in Washington,” Trump said.
In total, Trump only spent roughly 10 out of his over 40-minute speech talking about Tuesday’s election, which will determine whether Republicans hold on to control in the House and Senate.
The speech was his only scheduled in-person appearance before Election Day, though the president is also expected to appear in multiple “telerallies.”