Americans vote in key midterms set to upend Trump presidency

Let's cross now to Fraser Jackson in Washington. Fraser, Donald Trump effectively giving his closing arguments yesterday. What did he have to say? It was a very bizarre closing argument from the president who spent the best part of the last month crisscrossing the country to try to give his support to Republicans that he felt was in need of it. He said in his speech that lasted about an hour, this is the most consequential midterm in our lifetimes. But you wouldn't think that, judging by the way he started that speech, around the first 25 minutes of it were to do with the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, which he held that presser in front. And he went to speak about a lot of different beautification projects, especially in D.C., effectively talking about a lot of issues that Americans don't really care about. And quite frankly, a lot of them won't really ever see, including things like the granite in the White House, the helipad in the White House that he was that he installed as well. So it was a very bizarre set of messages coming from the president. But he then did eventually move on to the midterm coverage. It was very short, very sweeping. He said, once again, that his administration has been doing the best job, that everybody should be happy with how everything's been going. But there was a moment where he almost kind of seemed to concede defeat somewhat. At one point, he said, you know, we tried our best. So Donald Trump had a very kind of defensive moment in that moment, but otherwise a very kind of rambling, wide-ranging speech that I think a lot of Democrats that I've heard I've heard from... Thought was a gift to them, effectively, on the eve of these elections, which could be proving very consequential. Donald Trump may have been focusing on his fight with the green algae in the reflecting pool, but he potentially should have had one eye on the blue wave that could be heading his way this evening. But as people get out to vote today, what are indeed the key issues at hand? Well, there are many things that seem to be breaking through, and I think that's why these kind of issues that Donald Trump is talking about with the ballroom and the reflecting pool don't really do a service to, or rather are a good justification as to why people are so angry this time around. The polling that we're looking at shows that the Democrats will handily take the House. They could gain quite a few seats, any with a majority around 230 to 240 seats. They need 218 to be the majority. And now the Senate. Senate also is in play, and the margin there is that question. For the issues that voters really have on top of mind is the corruption that has really come to the fore in the last few months, as well as the war in Iran. That has been the major thing that people are so angry about. Donald Trump came to re-election on a platform of no more forever wars and lowering your costs. And the kind of yardstick for how well his presidency is doing has been the cost of diesel and the cost of gasoline, which has spiked. And a lot of those. Those battleground states that we're looking at, they are the states that have been hit hardest, some places going up as much as 75% or more since he took office. So those are two key things. And then the other thing is also cost, but it's the cost of groceries. Donald Trump promised he would lower those, but his tariffs that he has taken full ownership of, along with the war in Iran, by bypassing Congress, means that he doesn't really have anywhere to hide and voters may make him pay for it and the Republicans at the ballot box. Fraser Jackson reporting there from Washington. And just for the viewer, the images there behind Fraser were indeed of the Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer casting his vote. A larger-than-life figure in the Democratic Party.