Trump mocks Mexican president on midterm campaign trail, dangles $1 million reward | Gravitas

As Republicans face an uphill task to retain control over the US Senate and House of Representatives, US President Donald Trump's desperation is growing. While earlier only domestic opponents were at the receiving end of his diatribe during the midterm campaign trail, now even foreign leaders are not being spared.

Addressing a rally in Mississippi, Trump mocked his Mexican counterpart Claudia Sheinbaum over her refusal to accept his decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Now, this is not the first time when Trump has used questionable language for women. At a Republican rally in Michigan over the weekend, the US president made a rather blunt remark about rapper Nicki Minaj's backside. While critics questioned the appropriateness of such language at a political rally, Trump supporters attributed it to his unscripted speaking style.

Previously, he has targeted prominent Democratic lawmakers Maxine Waters and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with the 'low IQ' slur. This is not all. Last year, he described former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as an 'evil woman'. In May this year, Trump also riled Italian PM Georgia Meloni to an extent that her foreign minister called off his scheduled visit to America. While Trump claimed that Meloni begged to have a picture with him during the G7 summit, she accused him of lying and expressed surprise at the way in which he treats US allies.

Now, even as his approval rating slightly rose to 32% in the latest Reuters-Ipsos poll, Democrats still enjoy an 11% lead over Republicans as far as voting preference is concerned. While Trump earlier announced a 5,000 US dollar dole to win over voters, he has now dangled a one million US dollar reward for reporting voter fraud, which leads to the arrest and conviction of someone. This move stems from his longstanding allegation that large numbers of non-Americans have been illegally voting in the federal election. On multiple occasions, he has even accused Democrats of seeking to cheat in elections.

In the run-up to the midterm polls, the US president has been seeking a greater federal role in overseeing the elections. For instance, the Trump administration asked the state of California to stop counting the ballots of 20,000 voters, whom it claimed are non-citizens. However, a US federal appeals court declined to intervene after California refused to follow its order. But the Trump administration has doubled down on its approach by asking Washington not to count ballots of 400 suspected non-citizens.

This raises a key question. Is Trump preparing the ground to question the legitimacy of the midterm polls if the result doesn't go in his favour?