DALLAS and JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. — President Donald Trump put himself on the midterm ballot Wednesday but acknowledged it would take more time to end the Iran war and lower gas prices.

If some vulnerable Republican candidates were eager to distance themselves from an unpopular president, Trump used the opening night of the first-ever GOP midterm convention to tether himself to the party’s quest to maintain its House and Senate majorities.

“When I’m on the ticket, Republicans always do very well. We won the presidency three times,” Trump said at the American Airlines Center here in Dallas, falsely including the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden. “I’m asking you to pretend that I’m on the ballot. … Just one more time. Because if we lose, you’re going to lose your border, you’re going to lose your tax cuts, you’re going to lose your safety and security, you’re going to lose your wealth.”

“We’re running together,” he said later.

But underscoring the hurdles facing vulnerable Republican candidates, Trump hours earlier had acknowledged that the Iran conflict would end after the Nov. 3 midterm elections and admitted that it would take even longer for gas prices to come down.  

“I think the war will end immediately after the election. Because they can’t hold out any ⁠longer. They’re desperate to try and affect the election,” he said of Iranian leaders as he spoke to reporters at Joint Base Andrews before departing for Dallas.

“Right after the election, oil prices are going to be tumbling downward,” he added. “I think for gasoline, we’ll get them below $2 a gallon. … I think it’s going to take a little bit longer than the midterm.”

Once onstage in Dallas, Trump spoke before a sea of supporters decked out in cowboy hats, bedazzled “Make America Great Again” caps and American flag gear. Many in the crowed hollered at his most Trumpian remarks and claims, and the crowd chuckled in unison when he made fun of Iranian names as he described space-based U.S. intelligence in the region.

And they roared their approval when he appeared to propose trading government funds for votes. If voters keep the House and Senate under Republican control, Trump said he would issue a hefty payout to all adult U.S. citizens. 

“Because of our tremendous strength and success economically, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000,” he contended, not making clear if he would ask lawmakers to appropriate the payouts.

Despite still-high prices and voters in both parties continuing to tell pollsters about their economic struggles, Trump asserted that the government could afford such a massive dividend but said the funds would need to be spent in the United States.

Democrats slammed the proposal, with House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., calling it a “political bribe.”

“So add another $1.3 trillion to the wreckage of this fantastically reckless and dysfunctional presidency,” Raskin posted on X.

The dividend check announcement amounted to the major news from a keynote address in which Trump reiterated that he intends to hit the road in the coming weeks for 35 competitive races. He did not name any specific races other than the tight Senate race in Texas, which pits Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico.

In one of the night’s bizarre moments, Trump poked fun at the scandal-plagued Paxton as the audience laughed along, even as he said he wants to campaign so much in Texas before Election Day that voters will be saying, “Get him the hell out of here.” 

“He may not dress right, he may not talk exactly perfectly, and he may not be the best-looking guy I’ve ever seen,” Trump said of Paxton, whom he endorsed in a tough GOP primary over longtime Sen. John Cornyn. “But you know what he is? He’s the greatest attorney general in America, and he deserves to be your next senator.”

Though Trump has at times been aloof from Capitol Hill goings-on during his second term, he delivered a warning about a future Congress under Democratic control.

“If they win, the greatest legislative body in history will, for the first time ever, be controlled by a communist caucus. They’ll have a caucus of 20 people, 18 people, 10 people,” he said. “That’s enough to control Congress. [Speaker] Mike Johnson will tell you that.”

As Trump gets set for what he has described as a 30-day midterm campaign blitz across the country, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin called him “the biggest liability in American politics.

“Republicans now have to spin his disastrous, rambling speech when it’s clear that this bizarre dog-and-pony show is being held to placate Trump’s fragile ego,” Martin said in a statement Wednesday. “Tonight was a desperate attempt by Republicans to ignore the reality that all of their vulnerable candidates are poised to lose in November, even as they try to distance themselves from Trump and his rock bottom 33 percent approval rating.”

‘Forced him’

Trump’s trip to the Lone Star State began with some unexpected excitement, as a rubber safety slide deployed from the side of the Qatari-gifted Boeing airliner that serves as Air Force One opposite the door he uses to board. Around the same time, a legacy Boeing VC-25 airliner with the traditional light blue paint scheme taxied from its hangar at Joint Base Andrews and parked behind the Qatar-donated Boeing 747-8 wide-body plane.

Trump remained on board the Marine One presidential helicopter for some 15 minutes while Air Force and Secret Service personnel investigated the situation. Once on the tarmac, Trump told reporters the crew was performing a “check” on the slide. But a White House official later said Air Force personnel had accidentally triggered the slide’s deployment. 

Trump then answered questions for just over six minutes. He appeared, in a rare moment, stumped when CQ Roll Call asked if he would pardon Michael Cohen, his former personal lawyer and fixer with whom he appears to have reconciled with after years of public feuding. Cohen in 2018 pleaded guilty to charges of lying to Congress and was later convicted on a number of counts related to his work for Trump.

“I’ve never been asked that question,” Trump said.

“If everything is checking out, it’s something I would consider,” he continued. “What they did to Michael Cohen was a disgrace. They forced him to say things that he didn’t want to say and that he didn’t believe. And I appreciate that at least he came out, although late, he came out and rectified the situation.”

Cohen has said publicly that he felt pressured by federal prosecutors but has not signed legal documents formally withdrawing any of his testimony. 

White House staff mostly shrugged off the slide incident before passengers on the executive jet had a late lunch of cheeseburger bowls — a mixture of ground beef, pickles, sweet potatoes, cheddar cheese and “burger sauce” — and chocolate brownies during the flight to Dallas.

Later in Dallas, as he wrapped up Day One of Republicans’ midterm spectacular, the president joked that convention-goers should not expect his closing remarks Thursday evening to also stretch nearly an hour and 45 minutes. 

“I’m going to be here tomorrow night. I’m going to close it out. … But I’m not doing a big deal like this,” he said. “I gave you a lot of material. I don’t have to do it twice. But I’m going to be here to say goodnight to you, and I’m going to be just sort of getting up here and saying good luck and we love you all.”