"Empty seats, socialism and Trump dominate the Republican midterm convention

One of the more common pleas was for Trump supporters to support other Republicans.

"I'm asking you to pretend that I'm on the ballot," the president implored the first day.

"You know what happens if you don't vote? You go to hell," he said on the second night."

"Both days, there were thousands of empty seats, including almost all of the upper level, even as Trump insisted the arena was "packed" with "thousands" more waiting outside."

"Wednesday, Trump said that America "has beaten communism before and we will beat it again."

"In state after state, the Democrat establishment has been overthrown and replaced by crazed lunatics and radicals," Trump said.

"They call themselves Democrat socialists, but actually they're communists. They're not socialists. They're long beyond socialists."

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'Asked about President Donald Trump's proposal to dole out $5,000 to every adult American if Republicans win both chambers of Congress during the midterm elections, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned that borrowing to spend would cause more inflation.

"What I would say is, if you are getting surplus revenue, you should cut people's tax and return it to the people," DeSantis said on Thursday.

"What I don't think you wanna do is borrow another ... trillion and a half dollars and then just try to flood that into the economy, because that will lead to more inflation. That will lead to more debt," he said, "and more inflation."