President Trump proudly declared himself a “nationalist” Monday night on everything from immigration to trade, fighting an international order that’s unfair to the U.S.
Campaigning for Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas, Mr. Trump mocked Democrats for seeking to “restore the rule of power-hungry globalists.”
“A globalist is a person that wants the globe to do well, frankly, not caring about our country so much,” Mr. Trump told a packed arena of 18,000 supporters. “You know what I am? I’m a nationalist, OK? Nationalist. Use that word, use that word.”
While the president swept into office on an “America First” agenda, he typically has avoided the term “nationalist.” His opponents frequently use the word as criticism that the president promotes white nationalism.
The president reminded the audience that he pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accord. Earlier Monday, he confirmed that he is withdrawing the U.S. from an arms treaty with Russia.
Mr. Trump also used some of his most fiery rhetoric yet of the midterm election to accuse Democrats of destroying the country with weak immigration policies that encourage illegal immigration. He said Democrats want to give “free health care and education to illegal aliens, paid for by you.”
“They want to be able to vote, the illegals,” Mr. Trump said. “And I hate to tell you, if you go to California, they vote anyway. They’re not supposed to. Voter ID, folks, voter ID.”
Referring to the caravan of thousand of illegal migrants headed to the U.S. from Central American, Mr. Trump said, “As we speak, the Democratic Party is openly encouraging millions of illegals to break our laws, violate our borders, and overwhelm our nation. That’s what’s happening.”
“The Democrats have launched an assault on the sovereignty of our country, the security of our nation, and the safety of every single American,” the president said. “The crisis on our border right now as we speak is the sole result of Democrat laws and activists, Democrat judges that prevent us from returning illegal aliens from Central America and all over the world.”
Monday was the first day of early voting in Texas. Mr. Cruz, once a bitter rival of Mr. Trump for the GOP presidential nomination, is leading Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke in polling in his bid for reelection.
The president said Mr. O’Rourke is a “stone-cold phony” who favors lax border security.
“He pretends to be a moderate. But he’s actually a radical, open-borders left winger,” the president said.
Referring to the caravan of migrants, Mr. Trump said he suspects the illegal migration was instigated by Democrats to influence the midterm election.
“I think the Democrats had something to do with it. They made a big mistake,” Mr. Trump said. “People are seeing how pathetic our laws are. That’s an assault on our country. In the caravan, you have some very bad people. We can’t let that happen to our country. We need a wall built fast.”
The president acknowledged that his primary campaign against Mr. Cruz in 2016 was “nasty.” But he praised the lawmaker for “a beautiful job in staring down an angry left-wing mob” that tried to defeat the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.
Mr. Trump lamented that Justice Kavanaugh was put through an unfair FBI investigation into alleged sexual misconduct, while the president’s former rival Hillary Clinton should be investigated for her actions as secretary of State.
“If you want them to investigate, we’ll just have to nominate Hillary Clinton to the United States Supreme Court,” the president joked.
“That would take three or four years of questions.”
Mr. Cruz introduced the president to the crowd, predicting that “in 2020, Donald Trump will be overwhelmingly reelected as president of the United States.”
“I look forward to campaigning alongside him,” Mr. Cruz said.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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