Less than a month before the November 3 midterm elections, with polls showing plummeting approval ratings, President Donald Trump is holding campaign rallies in traditional Republican strongholds, including Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama and Iowa.

Trump is seeking to shore up support for a party increasingly identified with imperialist war, rising living costs, attacks on immigrants, corruption and the enrichment of the financial oligarchy.

In Nebraska, Trump campaigned for Senator Pete Ricketts. In Texas, he again stumped for Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton, as he did last month in the first-ever midterm convention, held in Dallas.

Ricketts faces a challenge from Bernie Sanders-backed independent Dan Osborn, a longtime union bureaucrat who previously ran for a Senate seat in 2024. A YouGov poll conducted September 24–October 3 showed Osborn narrowly ahead, 48 to 47 percent, with the race effectively tied within the margin of error. The same survey found that 54 percent of Nebraska likely voters disapproved of Trump’s performance, compared with 45 percent who approved.

A Marist poll in Texas conducted September 17–20 put Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico ahead of Paxton, the state attorney general, by 50 to 44 percent among registered voters. Trump himself had a 55 percent disapproval rating, against 43 percent approval. Thirty-eight percent said their family finances had deteriorated over the past year.

At both rallies, Trump invoked the prospect of nuclear attacks on Los Angeles and San Diego to defend his illegal war against Iran. At the Nebraska rally, amid remarks about the war and fuel prices, he said, “Let them take out Los Angeles, let them take out San Diego,” followed by, “This is a very small price to pay.”

In Texas two days later, he returned to the same cities and the same imagery of mass death. He spoke of a missile hitting San Diego or Los Angeles and then added: “We’re not going to let that happen. We protect our cities. We protect our country.”

On Thursday, Trump claimed on Truth Social that he had been comparing higher gasoline prices with the consequences of a nuclear attack. White House communications director Steven Cheung likewise maintained that Trump was describing the danger his war supposedly prevented. Trump presented the imagined destruction of American cities as a justification for the war.

At the same time, he singled out cities his fascist political movement treats as enemy territory. The latter was expressed with particular clarity by right-wing commentator Ann Coulter. On October 6, she wrote: “It shocks the conscience that President Trump would actually appear to invite nuclear attacks on Los Angeles and San Diego and yet omit San Francisco from the list.”

In addition to deploying the immigration Gestapo throughout California as part of his mass deportation operation, Trump dispatched National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles in 2025. In his September 30, 2025 address to assembled generals and admirals at Marine Corps Base Quantico, he proposed using American cities as military training grounds.

Trump’s San Antonio speech was repeatedly interrupted by protesters, some of whom were removed by police. The Associated Press reported that at least a dozen demonstrators interrupted him. Footage of the rally shows rows of empty seats and black curtains partitioning parts of the seating area. Broad stretches of bare concrete floor are visible behind metal barriers.

Trump’s attempts to stoke his fascistic base ahead of the elections are combined with the distribution of public money in an effort to buy political support. The administration has announced $90 payments for 20.8 million people enrolled in Original Medicare Part B. Most direct deposits were scheduled for around October 8. The money comes from the Medicare Improvement Fund, established to improve the traditional Medicare program. Most of Medicare’s 70.6 million enrollees will receive nothing.

The administration has also sent $500 payments to 950,000 people who purchase insurance through HealthCare.gov. Those receiving subsidized coverage and those using state-run exchanges do not qualify. Reuters found that 71 percent of those eligible for the latter payments live in states with competitive Senate or gubernatorial elections.

These payments follow Trump’s September 9 promise of $5,000 for every adult US citizen if the Republicans retain control of both the House and the Senate. The proposal has gained little traction in Congress, whose approval is required.

The payouts are accompanied by the conversion of government public service announcements into propaganda for the president. Over the last month, the administration has been running fascist advertisements paid for by the US government on Fox News and during football games.

One advertisement declares, in Trump’s voice, “Together we will defeat communism, socialism and Marxism in America.” Another announces, “America will never be a communist country.” Images glorifying Trump are paired with boasts about tax cuts and increased manufacturing.

The anti-communist propaganda comes amid growing disaffection with capitalism. A Gallup’s survey conducted August 3–24 and published September 23 found that 43 percent of Americans viewed socialism positively, the highest figure since it began asking the question in 2010. Positive views of big business stood at 35 percent. Since 2010, favorable views of big business have fallen 14 percentage points, “free enterprise” nine points and capitalism six points.

In response to Trump’s incitements, corruption and bribes, the Democrats are increasingly moving to the right, seeking “unity” with their Republican colleagues. Faced with the prospect of controlling Congress, the Democrats are terrified of expectations among millions of voters that they actually enact an agenda that encroaches on the wealth of the oligarchy or hinders the ongoing wars against Russia and Iran.

On October 7, the Democratic National Committee sued the Trump administration over the publicly financed advertisements. They are denouncing the use of public funds for the ads, while saying nothing about the witch-hunting of socialists.

Their responses to Trump’s nuclear rhetoric and attacks on Los Angeles and San Diego are similarly from the right. Representative Scott Peters emphasized that San Diego is “a proud military town,” adding, “Military service is at the root of our community and culture.” Representative Sara Jacobs wrote: “My constituents—including many active duty service members, veterans, and their families—are not acceptable collateral damage in Trump’s stupid war.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, also emphasized the military personnel stationed in his state. He directed his appeal to Trump’s accomplices, asking, “Where the hell are you Speaker Johnson? Marco Rubio, the great JD Vance, where is your outrage?”