In the final stretch of the midterm election, President Donald Trump was scheduled to hold a rally in Salina, Kansas, on Saturday. But those plans have changed, according to NewsNation.
Trump has cancelled his in-person rally this Oct. 31 and will instead hold “virtual rallies,” according to NewsNation’s White House correspondent Kellie Meyer. The official reason is that the ailing 80-year-old president wants to reach more people.
“President Trump will continue connecting directly with Americans nationwide through more than 20 telerallies before Election Day. These events give him the opportunity to highlight his accomplishments and expand his reach across the country,” a White House official reportedly told Meyer.
But the timing is curious, since Halloween is on Saturday. The Palm Beach Post reports that Trump is hosting a Halloween party at his private club Mar-a-Lago on Saturday. The newspaper notes that it’s probably a bad look for the president to hold an expensive gala when the average American is suffering.
Trump doesn’t seem terribly concerned with the optics, considering that he’s bragged that burgers at his club are incredibly expensive. He’s joked repeatedly that his promised $5,000 payment to every American (provided Republicans win) won’t get you much at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump's affordability message: "You could even come to Mar-a-Lago. You'll be my guest. The problem is that for $5,000 the most you'll be able to buy is a hamburger and maybe a small dessert. I'm not even sure you could buy that! No, don't go there. It's not a good place if you're price conscious."
Trump has been truly unhinged during recent rallies, slurring his words and repeatedly talking about men’s asses. He’s also made ridiculous claims, including the idea that anyone who protests him is being paid $250 by some unnamed entity. There’s no evidence, of course, that people who protest President Trump are being paid to do so.
The president is tremendously unpopular with the American people and currently has an approval rating of just 34%, according to a polling average from CNN. That’s the lowest for any president going into a midterm election since Harry Truman, who had a 33% approval rating before the midterms of 1946.
During a rally in Rock Hill, South Carolina, on Thursday for Darline Graham, the sister of the late Lindsey Graham and a Senate candidate, Trump insisted that pollsters were lying about his poll numbers. The president started off from the false premise that he has a 42% approval rating, suggesting it should be doubled and then “add 20.” That would give him an approval rating of 104%.
Trump on his approval rating: "42%?! You mean times 2, and add 20."
Despite Trump’s unpopularity, he publicly remains convinced that he can help Republicans keep control of the U.S. House and Senate. But that’s looking more and more unlikely.
The polls show that Democrats are well positioned to take control of the House, and may even win a majority in the Senate, but obviously anything could happen. The one thing that Democrats have working for them right now is bipartisan public anger over the cost of living.
The national average for a gallon of gas is currently sitting at $4.22, according to AAA. The average was $2.98 before Trump started the war in Iran on Feb. 28. Diesel prices have also skyrocketed to $6.33, which has pushed the price of just about everything higher, from food to consumer goods.
Trump is an elderly man whose brain is clearly breaking. And there’s no doubt that he’d much rather be at home in the White House instead of out campaigning for Republican candidates, something he’s said very bluntly during his rallies.
Trump: "Not only did he state that God is transgenderdjayyam"
Trump is reportedly still going to be holding his rally in Florida on Friday and Iowa on Sunday, according to NewsNation. But we’ll see if he really sticks to that. If he does, it seems like he may have canceled his rally in Kansas to support Sen. Roger Marshall in favor of an expensive party, with flight restrictions in place starting late Friday, according to the Miami Herald. That would be very on brand for Trump.
Marshall is trailing Democratic candidate Adam Hamilton 49% to 45%, according to the latest polling from CNN. But with Trump polling so poorly, his failure to appear may actually help the Republican candidate when Tuesday rolls around.
The president isn’t exactly in his element when he’s forced to appear virtually. He’s much more comfortable riffing with a large crowd that he can see physically, taking his cues on what works and what doesn’t from their real-time reactions. And it’s not like the White House has been particularly successful with its streaming-based outreach programs recently.
Have you checked in recently on Trump TV? By all accounts, nobody is watching it. Probably because it’s so low-energy. Sad.
Update, 5:20 p.m. ET: Trump was asked by a Reuters reporter on Thursday whether he had decided not to go to Kansas on Saturday because he was sick of travel. Trump belittled the reporter, making fun of his appearance and calling him “sick.”
Q: "You not going to Kansas has nothing to do with you being sick of travel?"
President Trump: "You're sick to ask that question. You are sick…I don't feel I have to go to Kansas…I feel perfect. You are disgusting. Put yourself in shape. You look like hell!" pic.twitter.com/8jfPolxExW
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 29, 2026
The elderly president was clearly offended by the suggestion that he wasn’t in peak performance to do rallies and told the reporter he looked “disgusting” and said “put yourself in shape” before insisting “you look like hell.”
