WASHINGTON - United States presidents past and present campaigned through the weekend in key states, in a last push to get out the vote for their parties ahead of the Nov 8 midterm elections.
But competing rallies in one particular state stood out.
In Florida, former president Donald Trump and Republican Governor Ron DeSantis – who is running for re-election and widely expected to win – held separate rallies on Sunday.
Mr Trump may be beleaguered by a variety of investigations, but his shadow looms large over this election in which he has endorsed scores of candidates.
And he has been relentlessly teasing a comeback bid in 2024 and may announce it very soon.
The 76-year-old former president continues to insist that the 2020 election was stolen – and despite no evidence of that, a majority of Republicans believe him.
He is also clearly looking at the midterms as a stepping stone to retaking the White House in 2024.
Mr DeSantis, however, is seen as one of the few who will plausibly compete with Mr Trump for the Republican Party’s nomination.
At a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, Mr Trump gave his 44-year-old potential rival one of his signature derogatory nicknames, calling him “Ron DeSanctimonious” while preening at numbers on big TV screens that showed his own strong popularity within the party.
“We’re winning big in the Republican Party for the nomination like nobody’s ever seen before,” he said, referring to himself.
“There it is: Trump at 71 per cent, Ron DeSanctimonious at 10 per cent.”
A straw poll among attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference in August also revealed that Mr Trump had 69 per cent support to run in 2024. Mr DeSantis garnered just 24 per cent.
But there was backlash from some conservatives over Mr Trump’s remarks on Saturday, highlighting the coming dilemma for the party.
Conservative commentator Matt Walsh tweeted: “Nice job launching your public attack against the most popular conservative governor in America three days before the midterms, when we’re all supposed to be showing a united front.”
On Sunday at another rally in Florida – again with Mr DeSantis rallying separately elsewhere in the state – Mr Trump did not mention the nickname again, but asked supporters to vote for Mr DeSantis.
The campaign has been marked by heated rhetoric.
On Saturday at a rally in Illinois, President Joe Biden scoffed at protesters holding signs calling him a socialist.
“I love those signs when I came in – socialism. Give me a break. What idiots,” he said.
The Soufan Centre, a consultancy that focuses on security issues, on Monday warned that misinformation and disinformation narratives spreading online are suggesting that voters cannot trust the outcome of the election – and that if “their side” loses, the election has been “rigged” or “stolen”.
“There is a real risk of political violence leading up to, during, or following the midterm elections,” it said.
“In unregulated online forums, violent extremists – including adherents of white supremacy extremism, accelerationism, and neo-Nazism – are celebrating the potential distrust in democracy, convincing followers that ‘there is no political solution’ and that violence is the only way forward.”
