Former President Donald Trump reiterated his statement in a call to a Maine Republican on Sunday that the United States has become a “trash can” for the rest of the world on immigration.
The call, made before President Trump’s rally in New York City, left Republican state Rep. Austin Therriault, who is running a close race against Democratic Rep. Jared Golden in Maine’s 2nd District, with supporters of the former president. The purpose was to provide solid support.
News: President Trump’s call to Maine was at least the third since September. The last episode earlier this month confused Gov. Janet Mills’ gender and conflated issues affecting the lobster industry. Sunday’s call came from the Maine Republican Party and was more focused on Theriault’s candidacy in a district that Trump easily won in 2016 and 2020.
“The vote for Jared Golden is… [Vice President] Kamala Harris,” Trump praised Theriault, called Golden “terrible” and falsely claimed the congresswoman was campaigning with the Democratic presidential candidate. (Mr. Golden supports Ms. Harris but declined to say whether he supports Mr. Trump.)
The former president then covered several topics for eight minutes, from lobster to immigration to a promise of a mass deportation effort targeting the 11 million people the U.S. Census Bureau says are living in the country without permission. We talked for a long time.
“We’re like a trash can to every other country,” Trump said on the phone call. “That’s terrible.”
On the other side: President Trump debuted the “trash” line at a rally last week, calling it “very accurate” even though it was his first time using it, prompting a response from Harris.
“This is a former president of the United States who has a bully pulpit, and this is how he uses it to somehow tell the world that America is… trash.” she told reporters. Friday, according to The Hill.
What they say: Mr. Theriault’s campaign did not respond to questions about whether it agreed with Mr. Trump’s line. Instead, he contrasted Mr. Theriault’s call to President Trump with Mr. Golden’s recent comments to the New York Times that he did not care who was in the White House.
“This shows Austin is like that,” said Theriault spokeswoman Preya Samsunder. “It just shows you how out of touch Jared Golden has become.”
Golden’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
What’s really going on: In his three debates with Golden, Theriault appeared to be sending a message to undecided voters. But in the final stages of the campaign, he shifted his focus back to Trump, opening a recent TV ad with a clip of Golden saying he did not support the former president.
That’s concerning because only about one in 10 Republican voters supported Golden in previous races. A recent poll released by the National Republican Party showed the lawmaker’s approval rating at 12%, but Theriault still had a two-point lead.
