What drove Trump to revive red-state rallies less than 24 hours after canceling them

Flying on Thursday to South Carolina to headline his 25th midterm rally this month, President Donald Trump and his political team made a decision, according to one of his advisers: Instead of holding an in-person rally this weekend in Kansas — a red state where Republicans appear vulnerable — Trump would deliver his closing argument there over the telephone.

A few hours later, another weekend rally in Iowa was similarly scrapped. It was a dramatic and sudden shift in the president’s closing-stretch strategy, which had relied on boosting enthusiasm among his base through an exhausting blitz of conservative districts.

When Trump returned from South Carolina, he told reporters he didn’t “feel I have to go to Kansas” because GOP Sen. Roger Marshall was “doing really well.”

The decision relieved some political operatives on the ground, who were happy to hear Trump would be engaging in telerallies that tend to be more scripted.

“Thank God,” one top Republican official told CNN, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid alienating the White House. “He hasn’t moved the needle anywhere.”

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Less than 24 hours later, the plans changed again. The rallies in Kansas and Iowa were back on, both now scheduled for Sunday. And the frenetic pace that White House officials had signaled was abruptly ending was now ramping back up.

Officials said the schedule had merely been rearranged to allow more time for Trump to dial into virtual events. But people familiar with the matter described different motivations to CNN.

After signing off on the changes, Trump had grown irked over the media coverage about his decision to cancel his final rallies, those people said. His irritation was apparent when he returned from South Carolina and lashed out at a reporter who questioned why he called off the events.

“You’ve been following me for two weeks. I feel perfect,” Trump said when asked how he was feeling and whether he was sick of campaigning. The reporter who asked, Trump seethed, looked “like hell.”

The president demanded the rallies be reinstated, the people familiar said, sending staff who had just worked to pull the events off the calendar scrambling to put them back on.

“Rallies are BACK ON!” read a statement confirming the change.

The episode only underscored how heavily Republicans’ midterm prospects have relied on Trump’s personal whims, from endorsements of his preferred candidates — some of whom are now struggling — to his signature rallies, which regularly veer away from the issues and talking points many candidates have tried to highlight.

Even some Republican candidates have scrambled to keep up.

“I think that I’m doing so well in the polls that he’s got, probably got better places to spend his time,” Marshall told reporters after news of the Kansas cancellation emerged Thursday.

Trump advisers insist the president remains a sought-after presence on the campaign trail, and his political team continues to field calls from GOP campaigns asking if he would visit their states in the sprint to Tuesday’s elections, one adviser told CNN.

That was what Trump officials argued was the original rationale for canceling his events this weekend: by skipping in-person events, Trump could maximize his time conducting telerallies for candidates across multiple states. Multiple sources familiar with the planning did not contradict that rationale.

By Thursday evening, Trump’s super PAC, MAGA Inc., had announced the president would headline virtual events in 19 states intended to “energize voters, drive turnout, and help deliver victories.”

The switch to virtual events was not unwelcome in some Republican corners. In the 21-hour stretch of time that the in-person events were canceled, several GOP operatives in battleground states quietly expressed a sigh of relief that the Trump roadshow would no longer be coming to their states.

Many pointed out that Trump is less likely during telerallies to meander into the obscure topics that now consume major chunks of his rallies: the cognitive tests he claims to have aced, the White House ballroom, the bodies of various Republican men.

One Republican official said the Trump rallies were too time-consuming during a peak period when GOP activists would otherwise be door-knocking, canvassing and doing other get-out-the-vote activities.

Trump has pressed his aides at times to schedule more travel in the campaign’s closing weeks, people who have spoken with him said, invigorated by the adoring crowds he’s encountered in deep-red districts and encouraged by friends and advisers who have told him his presence is directly boosting Republican enthusiasm.

Yet at other moments during the monthlong barnstorming, those people said, he’s bemoaned the breakneck nature of a tour that has taken him to a new town nearly every day — oftentimes to rally voters in college arenas or civic centers that appear downright miniature compared with the sold-out stadiums he played during his own campaigns. Trump has also griped privately, and increasingly in public, about how hard he’s having to work down the stretch for a campaign that’s not his own.

“I have to tell you a little secret,” Trump said during an October 23 rally in a Florida arena that sat fewer than 5,000 people. “Outside, there’s a crowd about two or three times this size, and I looked at my people with anger. I said, couldn’t you have gotten us a larger arena than this?”

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Later, as Trump boasted about the economy, he joked that he was “wasting my time” with the speeches and should just go home and let his accomplishments speak for themselves — a bit that he repeated at subsequent rallies.

The president has visited nearly every state on the Senate battleground map aside from Maine — many more than once. The initial White House decision to cancel the weekend Midwest appearances caused tremendous buzz, but few complaints among party stalwarts.

“Everyone has seen the president who wants to see him,” the second GOP official said.

Trump will travel Friday to Daytona Beach, Florida, for a rally with Republican candidates for Senate and governor, and he is expected to spend part of the weekend at Mar-a-Lago, where an annual Halloween party is planned.

Including Sunday’s events, Trump will have headlined 28 rallies since the start of October. Even he has acknowledged the schedule is a grind and that it has taken a toll on his voice.

“I don’t need to do this. But I have to because if (Democrats) win the midterms, all of a sudden you’re gonna see a slide and all of the crap that we talk about,” he told a crowd in Kentucky this month. “That’s why I’m here working my ass off for you.”

据特朗普的一位顾问透露，周四，特朗普总统和他的政治团队飞往南卡罗来纳州，准备参加本月第25场中期选举集会。他们做出了一个决定：特朗普不会在本周末在堪萨斯州（共和党似乎容易受到攻击的红色州）举行现场集会，而是通过电话发表最后的竞选演说。

几个小时后，爱荷华州的另一场周末集会被同样取消。这标志着总统竞选冲刺阶段策略的戏剧性转变，此前的策略是依靠在保守派选区进行密集的拉票活动来提振支持者的热情。

特朗普从南卡罗来纳州回来后告诉记者，他“觉得没必要去堪萨斯州”，因为共和党参议员罗杰·马歇尔“表现得非常好”。

这一决定让一些基层政治人士松了一口气，他们很高兴听到特朗普将参加电话集会，而电话集会往往是事先安排好的。

一位不愿透露姓名的共和党高层官员告诉CNN：“谢天谢地，他（指共和党高层官员）在任何事情上都没有取得任何进展。”他这么说是为了避免得罪白宫。

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不到24小时后，计划再次改变。堪萨斯州和爱荷华州的集会重新提上日程，都定于周日举行。白宫官员此前暗示即将戛然而止的密集竞选活动，如今又重新加速推进。

官员们表示，日程安排仅仅是为了给特朗普留出更多时间参加线上活动而进行了调整。但知情人士向CNN透露了不同的动机。

据知情人士透露，特朗普在批准这些修改后，对媒体报道他取消最后几场竞选集会的决定感到恼火。他从南卡罗来纳州返回后，怒斥一位质疑他为何取消集会的记者，他的不满情绪显露无疑。

当被问及身体状况以及是否厌倦竞选活动时，特朗普说：“你跟踪我两周了。我感觉好极了。” 提问的记者，特朗普怒气冲冲地说，看起来“糟透了”。

据知情人士透露，总统要求恢复集会，导致刚刚努力将这些活动从日程中取消的工作人员不得不紧急安排重新举行。

“集会恢复举行！”一份声明证实了这一变化。

这一事件更加凸显了共和党的中期选举前景在很大程度上依赖于特朗普的个人意愿，从支持他偏爱的候选人（其中一些人现在处境艰难）到他标志性的竞选集会（这些集会经常偏离许多候选人试图强调的议题和论点）。

甚至一些共和党候选人也不得不努力跟上形势。

“我认为我的民调支持率非常高，他（马歇尔）可能有更好的事情可做，”马歇尔在周四堪萨斯州比赛取消的消息传出后告诉记者。

特朗普的顾问们坚称，总统仍然是竞选活动中炙手可热的人物，他的政治团队不断接到共和党竞选团队的电话，询问他是否会在周二选举前的冲刺阶段访问他们的州，一位顾问告诉 CNN。

特朗普的官员们辩称，取消本周末活动的最初理由是：通过取消线下活动，特朗普可以最大限度地利用时间为多个州的候选人举行电话竞选集会。多位知情人士也并未否认这一说法。

到周四晚上，特朗普的超级政治行动委员会 MAGA Inc. 宣布，总统将在 19 个州主持虚拟活动，旨在“激励选民、提高投票率并帮助取得胜利”。

共和党内部一些人士对改为线上活动并不反感。在取消线下活动的21个小时里，几位身处关键摇摆州的共和党人士私下里松了一口气，因为特朗普的巡回竞选活动不会再来到他们的州了。

许多人指出，特朗普在电话集会上不太可能漫谈那些如今占据他集会大部分时间的晦涩话题：他声称自己轻松通过的认知测试、白宫宴会厅、各种共和党男性的身材等等。

一位共和党官员表示，在共和党积极分子原本应该挨家挨户敲门、拉票和其他动员选民投票的高峰期，特朗普的集会太耗时了。

据与特朗普交谈过的人士透露，特朗普有时会敦促助手们在竞选的最后几周安排更多行程，因为他在深红选区遇到的热情人群让他精神振奋，他的朋友和顾问也鼓励他，说他的出现直接提升了共和党人的热情。

然而，据这些人透露，在为期一个月的巡回演讲中，他也曾抱怨行程过于紧凑，几乎每天都要去一个新的城市——而且经常是在大学体育馆或市政中心为选民拉票，这些场地与他自己竞选时座无虚席的体育场相比，简直是小巫见大巫。特朗普也曾私下抱怨，而且越来越多地公开抱怨，他不得不为一场并非他自己的竞选在最后阶段付出如此多的努力。

“我得告诉你们一个小秘密，”特朗普在10月23日于佛罗里达州一个能容纳不到5000人的体育馆举行的集会上说道，“外面聚集的人群大约是这里的两到三倍，我愤怒地看着我的支持者们，我说，你们就不能给我们找个更大的场馆吗？”

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后来，当特朗普吹嘘经济成就时，他开玩笑说，他发表这些演讲是在“浪费时间”，应该回家让他的政绩自己说话——他在随后的集会上也重复了这句话。

除了缅因州之外，总统几乎访问了参议院选情胶着的每一个州——其中许多州还不止一次。白宫最初决定取消周末在中西部地区的行程，这一决定引起了轩然大波，但党内铁杆支持者却鲜有异议。

“每个人都看到了总统，也看到了那些想见他的人，”第二位共和党官员说道。

特朗普将于周五前往佛罗里达州代托纳海滩，与共和党参议员和州长候选人举行集会，预计他将在周末的部分时间前往海湖庄园，那里计划举办一年一度的万圣节派对。

算上周日的活动，自10月初以来，特朗普已经主持了28场竞选集会。他自己也承认，如此密集的行程安排让他身心俱疲，嗓子也受到了影响。

“我其实不必这么做。但我不得不这么做，因为如果（民主党）赢得中期选举，你们就会看到经济下滑，以及我们所说的所有糟糕情况，”他本月在肯塔基州对一群人说道。“这就是为什么我在这里拼命为你们工作。”