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Donald Trump has floated an unusual way to keep his campaign appearances going without personally attending every rally. It involves sending a robotic copy of himself instead. He pitched the idea during a White House lunch as he discussed the demands of traveling across the country during the final stretch of the midterm campaign.
Donald Trump discusses campaign travel and a possible robot stand-in
Donald Trump shared the idea Thursday during a White House lunch with first responders in the Rose Garden. After campaign stops in Alaska, Arizona, and Montana, he returned to the White House at 4 a.m. and acknowledged that the constant travel was taking a toll on his voice (via The Daily Beast).
He joked that modern robots could resemble him so no one “would know the difference”. A mechanical stand-in could handle rallies while he stayed home and watched the appearances on television, “Send them out on the trail. I can sit home and watch them on television,” Trump shared.
The remark came as Republicans faced a difficult fight to retain their narrow congressional majority. A Fox News poll cited in the supplied report put Trump’s approval rating at 36%, his lowest mark in that survey, while his rating on the economy stood at 22%.
Despite the political headwinds, Trump appeared upbeat during the lunch. He discussed White House renovations, praised Attorney General Todd Blanche, and repeated his false claim that he won the 2020 presidential election.
The president also urged Blanche to consider expanding the death penalty to include people who kill firefighters while they climb ladders. Trump asked whether the attorney general could make that happen. Later, he accepted a helmet from the head of the National Volunteer Fire Council and remarked that it would have helped during the 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Trump also said avoiding alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs had worked in his favor, but hinted at other serious health concerns without explaining them.