Democrats say Trump’s ‘bizarre’ convention is a distraction from his faltering presidency

DALLAS (AP) — It’s not just Republicans descending on Dallas for the midterm convention — Democrats are there too as they try to convince voters that the reality of Donald Trump’s second presidency doesn’t match the spectacle of his made-for-TV event.

“This bizarre Republican midterm convention here can’t paper over the fact that Republicans have done nothing to earn your vote,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a potential 2028 presidential contender, said Wednesday morning.

Trump organized the two-day gathering in an attempt to boost Republican enthusiasm despite his low approval ratings, economic concerns and dissatisfaction over the war with Iran. Democrats are trying to capitalize on voters’ frustration to retake control of Congress.

Besides Pritzker, several leading House Democrats were traveling to Dallas for events, as well. And Texas Democrats hope the spotlight on the state ends up benefiting their candidates.

James Talarico, a Texas state lawmaker who is running against state Attorney General Ken Paxton in a closely watched Senate race, held a food drive Wednesday at Friendship West Baptist Church in Dallas. He compared volunteers’ work with Republicans’ festivities.

“While we’re here serving our neighbors, billionaire megadonors and their puppet politicians are clinking their Champagne glasses,” Talarico said. “They are toasting to their own corruption. They are celebrating corrupt tariffs, billionaire tax breaks and a new forever war that are all driving up costs.”

Several Democrats on Wednesday mocked Trump’s idea for a midterm convention, an unusual affair that, unlike presidential nominating conventions held every four years, does not involve official party business handled by delegates from across the country. Trump will be featured both nights and is also using it as an opportunity for fundraising.

Talarico smiled as he thought about wealthy Republicans spending thousands of dollars for a picture with Trump.

“If you want a picture with me,” he said, “it’s free.”

Texas Democratic chairman Kendall Scudder added, “Trump’s trickle-up economics is taking money out of your pocket and giving it to the richest people in this country,” but he insisted that Democrats are determined to do more than criticize the president.

“This party has stood in modern history on the side of working-class people,” he said. “We’re recapturing that narrative.”

Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic candidate challenging Gov. Greg Abbott, went to Dallas to visit a venue featuring thousands of volumes of files related to Jeffrey Epstein and met with those who have accused him of sexual abuse. Trump had resisted releasing the files.

“It’s really incredible that we live in a country where the justice system is so broken at every level that there has not been accountability of what we know was extensive sexual abuse, exploitation that happened for decades,” Hinojosa said. “And that powerful people who run this country are still living their lives without having been held to account.”

The Democratic members of Congress who traveled to Texas said their mission is not just to highlight Trump’s shortcomings, but also to show voters what they would prioritize as a congressional majority.

“We want to ensure that people can actually live their lives, be able to work, have access to health care,” said Rep. Robert Garcia of California, “and the president’s more interested in sending bizarre, deranged social media posts and having his party in Dallas.”

Garcia is the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee and is in line to chair the panel should Democrats win the majority. That would put him at the forefront of the party’s promised investigations of the Trump administration and the first family’s business dealings.

The would-be chairman said those efforts are not a distraction but instead dovetail with Democrats’ message on the economy.

“We just got to be very clear that this is the most corrupt administration in the history of the United States,” he said, “and as Donald Trump and and his family get infinitely richer, the average American continues to struggle and can barely afford to make ends meet.”

Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado added that Democrats, both while campaigning and then potentially as a House majority, can balance policies aimed at helping voters with a range of likely investigations.

“Do you do oversight and accountability or are you legislating other things?” he asked, immediately answering that a Democratic Congress must do both. “And that’s actually not our decision. That is what the Constitution says the job is, right? … And we don’t get to decide not to do our job.”

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Barrow reported from Atlanta.