Trump's Thursday: Rock Hill Remarks at 12:30, Halloween on the South Lawn at 5:30, Then Two Closed-Press Tele-Rallies
The White House's own daily guidance maps a campaign day in three acts - a midday trip to the South Carolina battleground this station has been covering, a Halloween hosting back in Washington, and two evening tele-rallies aimed at voters the schedule does not name.
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump's Thursday runs on campaign time, and the White House's daily guidance lays it out in full. The president departs the White House in the morning for Rock Hill, South Carolina, where he delivers remarks at 12:30 p.m. at the Rock Hill Sports and Events Center before pre-credentialed media, then departs Rock Hill and returns to Washington. The trip is his second to South Carolina in two weeks, into the Senate race this station has been tracking as a five-days-out toss-up - the stop itself is the news: a president spending a closing-week midday in a state his party carried with nearly 60 percent of the vote.
Back at the White House, the day changes costume. At 5:30 p.m., the president and the first lady host Halloween at the White House on the South Lawn, a pre-credentialed media event that gives the closing-week campaign its one purely ceremonial hour.
The evening belongs to the phones. At 7:00 p.m. the president participates in a tele-rally, closed press, and at 7:30 p.m. a second tele-rally, also closed press - the guidance does not name their target states, which is itself a tell about the map: tele-rallies are the cheapest way to be in two more states before the day ends, five days before Election Day. This station will file the Rock Hill remarks separately, on what the president actually says.
