BULLHEAD CITY, Ariz. — Fresh off a packed airport rally, President Donald J. Trump stopped on the tarmac Wednesday afternoon to tell reporters where the midterm blitz goes next. “We’re now going to Montana,” he said. “We’re doing another big rally. The people are miles long and it’s going to be fantastic.” Because the Kalispell runway is small, he explained, the team would switch planes for the hop north and then “get back on the big one.”

The President said the rally tour has changed the race. “I wasn’t going to do this, but you know, we’re going to end up doing about 32, 33 of them,” he said. “I guess this is number eight or so. And I think we’re off to an amazing start. Every one of them is packed.” He said he owes it to the party and its people: “I love the party. I love the people in the Republican Party.”

Then came the line of the day. When he is not on the ballot, Trump said, turnout drops, and when he runs, Republicans win. “So essentially, I’m saying, please pretend I’m running,” he said. “And in a true sense, I am running because I don’t want them tearing down what we built.” Montana tonight, Michigan in a few days, and then back to Ohio and Texas: “We’re doing all the right places.”

He brought the scoreboard, too. “We’re at 1.7% inflation for the last three months,” the President said, after inheriting “a terrible inflation” from the last Administration. On Iran, he said the war “will end very shortly,” that Iran “won’t have a nuclear weapon,” and that energy prices “will fall very rapidly” when it does. He also took a moment to wish Pope Leo well: “Get better fast.”

Montana is ready for him. The White House says President Trump arrives with a record of results for the Treasure State: about 200,000 seniors benefiting from the new senior deduction, average refunds of $3,304 in 2026, 20,000 Montana jobs safeguarded by the Working Families Tax Cuts, $233 million in first-year rural health funding, and an $800 million Janicki Industries manufacturing campus coming to Great Falls with more than 1,000 jobs. Watch Rapid Response 47’s full video of the President’s tarmac remarks.