The President of the United States, Donald Trump, defended this Friday his economic management and security matters during a massive rally in Alabama, held in the midst of the campaign leading up to the midterm elections on November 3.
Trump made a stop in Alabama as part of his tour through several battleground states, aiming to secure the necessary support to maintain the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, in a campaign marked by his strong personal prominence.
In the realm of public safety, the Republican leader stated that in just two years his administration has achieved "the largest drop in history in violent crimes" and has placed the homicide rate at the lowest level in the last 125 years.
"In Birmingham, murders have decreased by 44% and here in Mobile, thefts, burglaries, robberies, and aggravated assaults have reached historic lows," he proclaimed before the attendees.
He also reiterated his justification for his harsh immigration measures and the ban on the entry of refugees from countries that, in his words, are "dangerous."
"We have halted all admissions of refugees from Somalia and other dangerous places. They cannot enter; we don't want Somalia here! They have a 98% unemployment rate, but they are very good at scamming us," he noted with an ironic tone, eliciting applause from the audience.
In terms of the economy, the former president listed several investment projects for Alabama, highlighting the $4 billion (about €3.5 billion) that Mercedes-Benz will allocate to expand its plant in Tuscaloosa, the $6 billion from Eli Lilly (€5.3 billion) to build a new factory in Huntsville, in addition to investments from US Steel and Arcelor Mittal in an area with a strong traditional industrial fabric.
Regarding energy policy, Trump boasted about his conversations with G7 leaders to coordinate the release of fuel reserves in Europe.
"I am pleased to report that we have reached an agreement for Europe to immediately release massive amounts of diesel from its highly stocked reserves," he emphasized at the end of his speech.
The head of the White House announced last Wednesday a 32-day tour across the country to support Republican candidates ahead of the midterms, an election in which the Democratic Party has an advantage.
The polls place the Democrats ahead in several key states to take control of the House of Representatives from the Republicans, a scenario that could also be reproduced in the Senate. This change in trend is largely attributed to social unrest over the high price of gasoline and the war in Iran.
The elections will determine whether the Republicans maintain control of Congress or whether, on the contrary, the Democratic Party takes the majority in the final stretch of Trump's term, which could even alter the course of the investigations affecting his Administration.
Although there are currently no open investigations, the Democrats are considering activating new investigations and committees depending on the electoral outcome. The latest voting intention polls give the Democratic Party a lead of nearly 9 points, with 48.7% of support, compared to the 40% that the Republican Party would obtain.