President Trump Image by Getty Images

President Trump said Republicans have suffered ahead of the midterm elections in the wake of the recent mail-bomb threat and the mass shooting in a Pittsburgh synagogue, which left 11 dead, the Washington Post reported.

Continuing on his ongoing rally tour, Trump ended his speech in Columbia, Missouri, by encouraging people to vote. He touted that Republicans were going to the polls in “tremendous numbers,” but said ultimately the weeks leading up to the “very important election” were troublesome for the party, complaining that it “stopped a tremendous momentum.”

“Now, we did have two maniacs stop a momentum that was incredible, because for seven days nobody talked about the elections,” Trump said. “It stopped a tremendous momentum.”

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The “maniacs” mentioned are Cesar Sayoc, allegedly behind the pipe bombs sent to media outlets and political figures like Jewish billionaire financier George Soros, and Robert Bowers, the gunman who reportedly said, “All Jews must die” as he shot up the synagogue in the densely-Jewish neighborhood of Squirrel Hill last weekend.

A few moments after his momentum comment, it appeared that Trump was trying to redeem himself — but then he doubled down.

“More importantly, we have to take care of our people, and we don’t care about momentum when it comes to a disgrace like just happened to our country. But it did nevertheless stop a certain momentum,” he said.

Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

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