Trump’s latest transactional pitch: Space Force academy is conditional on election outcome

President Donald Trump is tying promised benefits to the outcome of next week's midterm races, and his latest example involves a proposed Space Force military academy. At a rally, he said he would consider locating the school in Ohio if Sen. Jon Husted wins re-election, according to NBC News. Trump claimed every state wants it. The White House has not yet named a site. If former Sen. Sherrod Brown wins instead, Trump indicated Ohio would not get it, though nothing would legally stop him, according to MS NOW.

MS NOW's Steve Benen describes this as a recurring pattern. Trump told a North Carolina crowd in September that disaster aid depended on electing Michael Whatley to the Senate, though he seemed to be joking. In October he suggested Ohio's emergency requests could suffer without a Republican governor, tied a Kentucky revitalization project to a GOP Senate win, and told Kansans a yearlong E15 fuel waiver would vanish if they chose a Democratic senator. He also said Camp Lejeune water-contamination claims would be settled only if Republicans win, and he repeatedly promises $5,000 checks to adults, warning that if his side loses, "you get nothing."

Summarized by PolitiKool from MS NOW’s reporting. Read the full story at MS NOW →