Trump emphasizes campaign focus despite poor poll numbers and excludes CNN

US President Donald Trump dismissed doubts about his commitment to the Republicans during his first campaign appearance before the congressional elections. During a speech to employees of a truck manufacturer in Denton, Texas, he vowed that his party would be confident in the November 3 election despite declining approval ratings. At the same time, he made it clear that he is aware of his poor popularity ratings for a long time.

Trump, as usual, praised his own policies, but at the same time said that public relations were going badly. The US President said that they are doing “phenomenal work” but perhaps not presenting it well. "Maybe we're doing a bad job selling this."

He also promised in Texas that from now on he would concentrate fully on the election campaign: "I'm in it with all my heart - more than ever," said the Republican. “I think we will win.” Trump had already told reporters before the appearance that he would campaign across the country in the remaining weeks before the so-called midterms. Immediately after the visit to Denton, he traveled to the US state of Oklahoma. From there, the 32-day campaign offensive takes him to Alabama, Ohio and Nebraska. Vice President JD Vance was at a campaign event in Florida on Thursday.

CNN excluded again

The White House again excluded the US news channel CNN from Trump's trip on Thursday. In the television pool, in which the broadcaster alternates appointments with ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC and makes the recordings available to the others, CNN would have had its turn on Thursday, but was not admitted. Out of solidarity, none of the other broadcasters took over the vacant space.

In mid-September, Trump surprisingly banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from access to the White House. A judge then ordered in an interim order that the media companies must first be allowed access to the White House again. However, CNN was not allowed to accompany the president on a trip last week as a representative of the television pool.

Texas traditionally votes Republican, but this time the outcome is uncertain

On November 3rd, Americans will re-elect around a third of the senators and the entire House of Representatives in the midterm elections. Trump's Republicans currently hold a slim majority in both chambers of Congress. However, according to surveys, his politics are increasingly unpopular in his own country, among other things after the fuel price increases as a result of the Iran war.

In both Texas and Oklahoma, Trump repeatedly spoke about Republican Ken Paxton. The candidate supported by the US President wants to enter the Senate in Texas - but he is by no means certain of victory. The Democrats are hoping to take the seat from the Republicans with their 37-year-old candidate James Talarico.

In order to mobilize his supporters, Trump also repeated a sentence in Oklahoma that he had previously made the core element of his midterm message: "Please act as if I were running." If his name was not on the ballot, people would not vote in such large numbers, he explained his calculations.