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Former President Donald Trump repeated his line that the U.S. has become “like a garbage can” for the rest of the world on immigration on a Sunday call to Maine Republicans.
The call, which came before Trump’s rally in New York City, was aimed at getting the former president’s supporters firmly behind state Rep. Austin Theriault, the Republican locked in a tight race with Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden of Maine’s 2nd District.
The news: The call was at least Trump’s third one into Maine since September. During the last one early this month, he confused Gov. Janet Mills’ gender and conflated issues affecting the lobstering industry. The Sunday call came from the Maine Republican Party and was more focused on Theriault’s run in a district that Trump won handily in 2016 and 2020.
Theriault opened the call by saying “a vote for Jared Golden is a vote for [Vice President] Kamala Harris.” Trump praised Theriault, called Golden “terrible” and falsely said the congressman is campaigning with the Democratic presidential nominee. (Golden has refused to say if he is backing Harris but does not support Trump.)
The former president then riffed across several topics for eight minutes, from lobster to his top issue of immigration and a promise of a mass deportation effort that could apply to 11 million people who the U.S. Census Bureau says are living in the country without authorization.
“We’re like a garbage can for every other country,” Trump said on the call. “It’s a terrible thing.”
The other side: Trump debuted that “garbage can” line at a rally last week, noting that it was the first time he had used it but calling it “very accurate” and prompting a response from Harris.
“This is someone who is a former president of the United States, who has a bully pulpit, and this is how he uses it: to tell the rest of the world that somehow the United States of America is … trash,” she told reporters on Friday, according to The Hill.
What they’re saying: Theriault’s campaign did not answer a question about whether he agreed with that Trump line. Instead, it contrasted Theriault’s call with Trump with Golden’s recent comment to The New York Times that he doesn’t care who is in the White House.
“This shows Austin does,” Theriault spokesperson Preya Samsundar said. “Just goes to show how out of touch Jared Golden has become.”
Golden’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
What’s really happening: In three debates with Golden, Theriault looked to be pitching his message to undecided voters. Yet he has pivoted back to Trump at the end of the campaign, opening a recent TV ad with a clip of Golden saying he doesn’t support the former president.
This indicates some worry about a sliver of about 1 in 10 Republican voters that have backed Golden in previous campaigns. The congressman had 12 percent of them in a poll recently publicized by national Republicans that nonetheless showed Theriault up by 2 points.
