President Donald Trump cast his ballot in Florida's midterm elections on Saturday, then used his appearance at a West Palm Beach polling station to defend a controversial Ohio campaign ad, back a lawsuit over Alaska's Senate race, and warn that the United States could still "finish off" the war with Iran. The remarks, delivered days before the November 3 midterms, drew swift pushback from Democrats, who called the ad cruel and exploitative.
A straight party-line vote
Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrived together at the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections office in West Palm Beach after the president spent the morning at a nearby golf course. Asked whether he had voted along party lines, Trump, wearing an "I Voted" sticker, replied: "Very much so." He then headed to a campaign rally in Georgia.
In Florida, Trump has endorsed Republican Rep. Byron Donalds in the race to succeed term-limited Governor Ron DeSantis. Donalds faces David Jolly, a former Republican who became an independent and later joined the Democratic Party. Trump has also campaigned for Republican Senator Ashley Moody, who is seeking election to the final two years of former Senator Marco Rubio's term against progressive state lawmaker Angie Nixon.
The ad at the center of the storm
The most heated exchange concerned an advertisement from Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. The ad features the estranged mother of Ramaswamy's Democratic rival, Dr. Amy Acton, who lost custody of her children after her husband, the children's stepfather, was indicted for raping Acton when she was 12.
Trump defended the ad, saying the mother had called Acton a liar and that he could not think of a better reference. Acton responded directly, saying "decency still matters" and accusing Ramaswamy of using her childhood to help a struggling campaign. Former President Barack Obama, campaigning in Ohio, assailed what he called "cruelty" and indecency from Trump and his allies in the campaign's final days. Ramaswamy's camp has defended the ad as featuring a willing participant telling her own story.
Alaska, Iran, and Melania's ceasefire
Trump also defended his administration's planned lawsuit to block certification of Alaska's Senate race if Republican Senator Dan Sullivan loses, citing the presence of another candidate named Dan Sullivan on the ballot. Critics have called the move an attempt to pre-judge an election result; the administration argues the ballot confusion justifies legal action.
On Iran, Trump said the US could either continue its military campaign or reach an agreement with Tehran: "I may have to finish it off. Or maybe they will make a deal, but I am not sure. Either way, we win." Melania Trump, who this week brokered a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the ravaged city of Oleshky to allow aid deliveries and civilian evacuations, was asked whether she might travel to Ukraine. "We will see," she replied.
Takeaway: With ten days to go until the midterms, Trump's polling-station appearance compressed the campaign's sharpest arguments into a single stop: party loyalty, a fiercely contested ad, a disputed Senate ballot, and a war that may or may not be over.
Watch: President Trump votes early in Florida alongside Melania Trump ahead of the midterm elections.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Movement Proposition (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0
Sources: The Times of India, The Economic Times, The Indian Express.