President Donald Trump took some time away from his dinner with South Korean President Moon Jae-in Tuesday evening to get in some Twitter campaigning for his favorite candidate in the Virginia gubernatorial race, despite that candidate’s lukewarm embrace of the President’s support.
Ripping Democratic Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam for being “weak on crime” and “weak on our GREAT VETS,” Trump praised former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, saying the candidate would “totally turn around” the high crime rates and economy in Virginia.
“Vote today, ASAP!” he said.
Ralph Northam will allow crime to be rampant in Virginia. He’s weak on crime, weak on our GREAT VETS, Anti-Second Amendment….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2017
….and has been horrible on Virginia economy. Vote @EdWGillespie today!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2017
.@EdWGillespie will totally turn around the high crime and poor economic performance of VA. MS-13 and crime will be gone. Vote today, ASAP!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2017
Tuesday’s tweets aren’t the first time the President has attempted to embrace Gillespie. On Oct. 26 he tweeted about the Republican candidate, baselessly claiming Northam “doesn’t even show up to meetings/work” and suggesting that Gillespie is in favor of preserving Confederate statues.
But while campaigning later that day, Gillespie failed to mention the Presidential endorsement and dodged questions from TPM at a campaign event about Trump.
As of Tuesday morning, Northam had a modest lead over Gillespie, TPM reported.
