The following article by Seung Min Kim was posted on the Washington Post website July 26, 2018:
President Trump openly campaigned for Republican candidates at a taxpayer-funded trip to Granite City, Ill., on July 26. (The Washington Post)
President Trump on Thursday used a taxpayer-funded trip to Illinois to openly advocate for electing Republicans to Congress — blurring the line between official and political events in the heat of the midterm campaign season.
“You’ve got to vote Republican, folks, you’ve got to vote Republican,” Trump said during the speech at a steel plant in Granite City, Ill., that had recently reopened. “Vote for these two congressmen; they know what we’re doing. They know what they’re doing. They’re tough, and they’re smart.”
Trump didn’t name the lawmakers, but three Illinois Republicans accompanied him during his tour of the plant, according to the White House: Reps. Mike Bost, Rodney Davis and John Shimkus. Bost represents the district Trump traveled to on Thursday and has been one of the most fervent Republican supporters of the president’s tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.