President Trump said a lot of things at his Saturday night rally in suburban Pittsburgh, but he didn't say much about the candidate he was there to endorse. Trump "got business out of the way quickly Saturday night — urging voters to elect Republican congressional candidate Rick Saccone, who's locked in an unexpectedly tough special election battle in Pennsylvania — before turning to the main subject of the night: himself," Politico reports. He closed with an appeal to vote for Saccone, because "we need Republicans in office."
This was Trump's second rally with Saccone, following appearances by Vice President Mike Pence, Ivanka Trump, and Kellyanne Conway. But there's a reason Trump focused on himself, Jonathan Swan says at Axios: "Trump thinks Saccone is a terrible, 'weak' candidate, according to four sources who've spoken to the president about him." Republicans have poured more than $10 million into the race, mostly to attack Saccone's Democratic opponent, Conor Lamb, who has raised nearly $4 million on his own. Trump won the district by 20 percentage points.
Republicans have complained about Saccone for months, and "the thing that most irks senior Republicans involved in the race" is that "Saccone has been a lousy fundraiser," Swan notes. "Lamb has outraised Saccone by a staggering margin — nearly 500 percent." But there's also the widespread idea that Lamb's pulling even with Saccone in a reliably red district is Trump's fault.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
You "should never read too much into any one race but this is more than Saccone," Cook Political Report's Amy Walter tells Axios. "The environment today is much worse than 'normal' for Republicans. That's not because of Saccone or Lamb, but because of Trump."
-
Parthenogenesis: the miracle of 'virgin births' in the animal kingdomThe Explainer Asexual reproduction, in which females reproduce without males by cloning themselves, has been documented in multiple species
-
What will bring Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table?Today's Big Question With diplomatic efforts stalling, the US and EU turn again to sanctions as Russian drone strikes on Poland risk dramatically escalating conflict
-
Why social media is obsessed with cortisolIn The Spotlight Wellness trend is the latest response to an increasingly maligned hormone
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to TrumpSpeed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raidsSpeed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raidSpeed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearingSpeed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mountSpeed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own listspeed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battleSpeed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants
