Trump finds ominous campaign message in French riots

President Trump is issuing an ominous message to supporters, warning that Democratic control of Congress would lead to chaos and destruction in his closing midterm pitch two weeks out from Election Day.

Trump sought to tie the protests and riots rocking France to the U.S. during a rally in Kansas on Monday, saying the U.S. could face a similar scenario with Democratic majorities on Capitol Hill.

“To see what is at stake in this election, just look at what’s happening in France,” Trump told supporters.

Vice President Vance sent a similar message on Monday in response to a post on the social platform X with a video showing a 150-year-old town hall burning in France.

“I pray that France, a beautiful country of amazing people, will stop this madness before more of its landmarks burn,” he wrote. “And I hope Americans are paying attention. This is the future congressional Democrats seek for your country.”

Speaking in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump sounded off about the riots that have gripped France.

“When you look at France, and it happened in Italy too, smaller scale, but it’s right there, it’s simmering,” Trump said, pointing to immigrants as the driving force of the protests, which began with teenage students pushing for better schools.

“If you don’t get that out, and you’re going to have to remove the people, you’re going to have to remove those people that are insurrectionists,” he added, drawing a contrast with his own hard-line border policies.

While the messaging could provide useful fodder to galvanize Trump’s conservative base, it could turn off Independent voters, who are displeased with the state of the economy under the Trump administration and Republican control of Congress.

“It’s somewhat delusional, even dangerously delusional to think that a riot in France will supersede the economic needs and priorities of Americans two weeks out from an election,” said one Republican strategist.

Trump’s focus on France comes as Republican candidates remain focused on economic messaging — with many looking for distance from the president’s least popular policies.

“All Republicans need to be focused on is restoring confidence with swing voters who are abandoning the party due [to] our failure to focus on economic issues. Failure to do so will lead to disappointment on election night,” said Paul Shumaker, a North Carolina-based Republican strategist.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Tuesday found that 68 percent of respondents, including 37 percent of self-identified Republicans, said they disapproved of Trump’s handling of the economy.

The president has talked frequently about the economy in his final midterm blitz, touting the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. On Monday, Trump made headlines when he announced an $8 billion relief program for farmers negatively impacted by high diesel prices.

Trump indicated that the protests in France will remain part of his economic messaging in the days ahead.

“When I go to North Carolina, today I’m going to be speaking about it. But Europe has to change its ways or you’re not going to have Europe left,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday ahead of a campaign rally in Greenville, N.C.

The unrest in France initially began with protests over the summer focused on teacher shortages and declining building conditions. The protests then quickly spread to other parts of the country, and fringe riots have since emerged.

In a statement to The Hill, deputy White House press secretary Anna Kelly said Trump’s warnings over Europe are nothing new and are meant to protect the U.S.

“These destructive policies have made once-great European cities unrecognizable — allowing crime and antisemitic violence to run rampant and posing an unsustainable cost on social safety net programs,” Kelly said.

“The president saved the United States from such destruction when he was elected, and he has rightfully warned Americans of the chaos that awaits if Democrats allow the same radical left lunatics to wreak havoc on our communities,” she continued.

Trump also sees the unrest in Europe as an opportunity to highlight his own immigration record as he seeks to galvanize his base. The president attacked the Somali community in Minnesota, as well as the Haitian community in Springfield during a rally in Ohio.

The president’s use of dark and menacing language at campaign rallies is hardly new. During the launch of his first presidential campaign in 2015, the president accused Mexican migrants crossing the U.S. southern border of being “rapists” and bringing drugs and crime into the U.S.

“He does fire and brimstone,” the unnamed Republican strategist said. “But after being solely in power for two years, it just doesn’t work.”

The president’s rhetoric mirrors that of his past messaging ahead of the 2018 midterms, in which he warned of a migrant caravan threatening the U.S., as well as in 2020, when he attacked demonstrators following the police killing of George Floyd.

While the messaging has helped mobilize MAGA voters in the past, polls suggest Trump and his party could be headed for major losses in two weeks.

“Trump’s instinct, of course, is to scare people,” Republican strategist Rob Stutzman said. “When you are at record-low disapproval ratings, there probably isn’t much point in being aspirational.”

The same Reuters/Ipsos poll found that Trump’s approval rating hit a record low of 31 percent.

“But having said that, Americans remember unrest in major American cities,” Stutzman said, referring to the unrest following Floyd’s death and during the pandemic.

“And the failure to secure the southern border is probably the most glaring, enduring ineptitude of the Biden administration,” he continued.

Stutzman argued that Trump’s line of attack on the French riots could help with base turnout.

“It’s the type of rhetoric and fear and demagoguery that helped him build his coalition of unique, otherwise disengaged voters,” he said.