Voting ends Tuesday. Here's how the campaigns are closing

It's considered this, where every day we go deep on one big news story. Today, closing arguments in the home stretch of the midterms. We are at that moment in the political calendar where it's all about what could happen. Democrats say if they win, they want to launch corruption investigations into Trump and his administration. We're going to expose every facet of the corruption we've been trying to document at the best we can without the subpoena power, we will be in a much stronger position to go after it and to stop it once we get back into power. Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin, speaking on CNN, he is in line to chair the Judiciary Committee if his party takes the House. President Trump, meanwhile, continues to promise voters checks. I am going to give all adult citizens in the United States of America $5,000. Not only if Republicans win both chambers, so that would cost upwards of a trillion, trillion dollars, and it would face major hurdles in Congress. Trump is also teasing a potential restart of the U.S. bombing campaign in Iran. Here he is on Fox News. I have a decision to make. Do I finish it off? Which would be very easy to do or do I make a deal? That's no decision. Democrats like Representative Rokhana of California say they will use Congress's power of the purse to force the White House's hand. If the Democrats win the House and the Senate, we will stop that war. That is also from an interview with Fox News. Add to all that, dueling visions for the future of affordable care act subsidies and immigration policy and making Republicans big tax cuts permanent. Consider this so much of what comes next hinges on what happens at the polls. We will look at what we're hearing from Democrats and Republicans in the final hours of these midterms. From NPR, I'm Mary Louise Kelly. It's considered this from NPR. Across the country, tens of millions of voters have already weighed in on the midterms. A more will do so on Tuesday and on Monday, here in Washington, President Trump delivered a weaving message to those voters encouraging them to support Republicans. With your vote, we will decide these extremists will be given power or not power. We'll either keep America strong. I think we're having this the golden age of America. We've never done anything like it. Two reporters from NPR's golden age are here to talk this through. NPR White House correspondent, Danielle Kurtzleven. Hi there. Hey there. Hey, and senior political correspondent, Tamara Keith. Hi, Tam. Hello. Danielle, kick us off from the White House. Tell me more about President Trump's closing message today. Well, yeah, I was at his speech at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool today and he started it with more than 20 minutes about the pool and also other DC renovation projects, which is just objectively weird the day before midterms. Now listeners might remember that he had tried to get the pool fixed up ahead of July 4th, but then the coding came off, algae growing it, and then his administration attempted to prosecute multiple people for vandalizing the pool, only to have to admit later to the court that it had been bad workmanship, not vandalism, that damaged the pool. Now Trump did eventually get to a more substantial message today, but then at the end, he veered back to the renovations once again, and in fact, he basically acknowledged that he skipped over a lot of potential midter messaging. We have a lot of great things planned for Washington, and I could get into the nation, but for that, you don't have enough time. And while yes, Trump loves doing these projects, it was still surprising to focus on them. After he's done all of these rallies around the country the last few weeks. Tamer Keith's sons, like maybe not the message that Trump's fellow Republicans were hoping to hear from their leader today. What has been the broader GOP closure argument? Yeah, I mean, it can be a little hard to pluck the closing argument out of President Trump's campaign speeches other than vote like I'm on the ballot. But more disciplined Republican politicians have set up this election as a "choice between common sense and crazy." And the idea is to disqualify Democratic candidates as out of touch with American values and too much of a risk to give power in Washington. But stuff like what Trump did today draws attention back to him at a time when an overwhelming majority of Americans do not approve of his performance on the job and say he isn't focused on the right priorities. Well, and go back to Daniel to what you were saying about these rallies. The president has been on the road nearly every day making a pitch to voters. That's right. And like other Republicans, Trump has also been casting Democrats as extreme. And his speeches have included a list of accomplishments from this second term that he likes to brag about. He talks about tax cuts, foreign investment that he says is a result of his tariffs. And he also says that high gas prices are a small price to pay for the Iran War because he doesn't want that country to have a nuclear weapon. So yes, he gets into some substance. But he has also been pulling focus away from his own message recently, with, for example, a side about candidates' bodies and with racist comments about candidates like Michigan Democratic Senate hopeful Abdul Al-Sayed. But also, I do think you could argue that Trump just hasn't seen these rallies as about a midterm message, but about just showing up and being Trump. I mean, he's been doing his greatest hits. He lies about the 2020 election, saying he won it, he did not. And he pulls out these years old insults for certain Democrats. And like Tamp said, Trump keeps saying pretend I'm on the ballot. Well, in these speeches, with his election denialism, when he talks about men's posterior ears, crowds really do get unfiltered Trump. And so that is what's on the ballot. Tamp, go to the where, the where Trump has been holding these rallies and what we should take from that. Yeah, he promised to campaign in key swing districts, but then the ground shifted under him. And so the bulk of his rallies have been in Republican states where he won big just two years ago. And there's little question that the president is going to own the outcome of these midterms. I am not predicting that he will take responsibility for Republicans lose, but he's the one who pushed the mid-decade redistricting of House districts. He picked some of the Senate candidates who were causing the biggest headaches for Republicans, Michael Watley and North Carolina, Darlene Graham and South Carolina, and the scandal plagued Ken Paxton in Texas. That race alone is up to nearly $600 million in spending on air, according to Add Impact. Republicans should not have to sink more than $400 million into a Senate race in Texas of all places. Trump sounded almost resigned today to an unfavorable outcome for his party. Usually whoever the sitting president is Republican or Democrat, good or bad. Good president, great president, bad for some reason. The sitting president doesn't win the midterms, but we gave this a very strong shot. We gave it a strong shot in the past tense. In the past tense, I just noticed that too. That's the president. What about the Democrats, Tam, which their message? Democrats have been focused on cost of living concerns, gas prices, housing, healthcare, blaming Trump's policies, tariffs, the war with Iran, even corruption. And they present themselves as a check on the excesses of this presidency. And it fits with an electorate that is in an overwhelmingly sour mood. But this doesn't necessarily mean that voters are thrilled with Democrats or the Democratic band brand. And the past few days, Democrats have brought some drama to the party. At first, there was the double-dan Sullivan controversy in Alaska, and now the bad blood between Congresswoman Hailey Stevens and Abdul El Sayed in the Michigan Senate race. He defeated her in the primary. It's not clear how influential any of this will be so late in the game, but she has endorsed the Republican there, Mike Rogers. And Daniel Lustward to you, the economy that Tam just brought up, and that argument from Democrats is a fair argument from Dems. You know, everyone agrees presidents generally don't control the economy. They can't claim direct credit or blame. But Trump, I think we found an exception this year between his tariffs and the Iran war that he started. You can draw a direct line. And so that is on the ballot this year. That's NPR's Daniel Kurtz-Sleben and Tamer Keith. Thanks to both. You're welcome. You're welcome. This episode was produced by Connor Donovan and Brianna Scott with audio engineering by Ted Meabane. Our director is Jonas Adams. It was edited by Rebecca Metzler, Christopher and Taliyada, and Tim Beat Eremius. Our interim executive producer is Courtney Dornig. I'm Mary Louise Kelly.