Trump says 'two maniacs' stopped GOP 'momentum' ahead of midterms


During a rally in Missouri on Thursday night, President Trump said last week's murder of 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue and the mailing of explosives to several prominent Democrats had hit Republicans hard before the midterm elections.
"We did have two maniacs stop a momentum that was incredible, because for seven days nobody talked about the elections," he said. "It stopped a tremendous momentum." The most important thing, he added, is "to take care of our people, and we don't care about momentum when it comes to a disgrace like just happened to our country. But it did nevertheless stop a certain momentum, and now the momentum is picking up."
Trump visited Missouri to stump for Republican Josh Hawley, who is running against incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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