Trump’s transactional approach to the midterm elections abandons all subtlety

President Donald Trump is openly tying federal money to how Americans vote in this year's midterms, according to MS NOW's Steve Benen. At a Kentucky event, Trump announced that the Department of War would put $100 million into the drugmaker Antheia to revamp a large manufacturing site in Winchester, but only if Republicans win. Addressing Senate nominee Rep. Andy Barr, he said the nominee had to win or the project was off. The Pentagon press office declined to tell USA Today what Trump meant, and Trump did not explain why a defense agency would fund drug production.

Benen says this is a pattern. Roughly a month ago in North Carolina, Trump told a crowd that disaster relief would depend on Michael Whatley, the former Republican National Committee chairman, winning a Senate seat; listeners groaned, and Trump appeared to be joking. Earlier this month in Ohio, he said he probably would not assist Democratic gubernatorial nominee Amy Acton, adding that she dislikes him. He has also floated $5,000 payments to every adult, costing about $1.3 trillion, contingent on results that please him. Benen argues that elections in a healthy democracy should not work this way.

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