President Trump told a Wichita rally audience Monday that his administration will launch a new Harvest Fuel Relief program, directing eight billion dollars in support to farmers to offset diesel costs during harvest season, and credited Sen. Roger Marshall with making it happen. "Tonight, I'm also pleased to announce that the Department of Agriculture will be launching a new harvest fuel relief program providing our farmers with eight billion dollars in support to offset diesel costs during this harvest season," Trump said. "And Roger Marshall is the leader who fought for that to happen. Roger got it to happen. Good job, Roger."
The rally, held for the incumbent Kansas senator, drew on the president's closing argument against Democrat Adam Hamilton, whom Trump described as "a radical left phony who's pretending to be a moderate because he does not have the courage to tell Kansas the truth about his belief and really who he is." Real America's Voice carried video of the remarks.
In the same speech, Trump said Hamilton "opposed my travel ban to keep terrorists and extremists out of our country, and he was vicious about it," and alleged that Hamilton "used church dollars to fund anti-religious transgender activities" and "promotes a document listing one hundred twenty-five different genders." He also said Hamilton "stated that he believes America is systematically racist" and that he "donated to Kamala Harris and he donated to Cook and Joe Biden and he donated to Barack Hussein Obama." Next News Network could not independently verify these characterizations of Hamilton's record.
Trump's visit came as The Washington Times reported the president "rushed to Kansas on Monday in a bid to head off a Democratic Party surge in the Sunflower State, which hasn't elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in ninety-four years."
The rally followed a separate law enforcement development in the state. The Gateway Pundit, an outlet with nine hundred sixty thousand followers, reported that a Clearwater, Kansas, man was arrested the previous week for threatening to shoot the president at Monday evening's Wichita rally. The outlet's post did not include further detail on the case.
The president's remarks fed a broader argument already circulating among supporters online. Gunther Eagleman, who has one point eight million followers on X, posted a roster of Democrats he said Kansans would be voting for if they backed the party this year. "Omar, Tlaib, AOC, Talarico, Warren, Waters, Schumer and Pelosi," the post read. "That's who you're voting for when you vote Democrat this year. Taxpayers foot the bill while fraudsters cash welfare checks. Fifteen days, Kansas. Re-elect Roger Marshall."
Trump made a similar case in his own post, naming "Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, A.O.C., James TalaFREAKO, Elizabeth 'Pocahontas' Warren, Maxine Waters" among the figures he said define the Democratic Party. The New Republic, in its own coverage, described the president as unnerved over the Texas Senate race and the GOP's difficulty derailing James Talarico, a Texas-based pollster calling the race tightening.
The online case against Democrats extended to state-level candidates. Gunther Eagleman also posted about Kansas Democrat Cindy Holscher, citing a 2023 post in which she wrote, "I have no idea if Jesus was TRANS, gay, straight, etc.," while, as the post described it, fighting a bill to keep drag shows away from kids. The post added that Democrat Governor Laura Kelly said Holscher had "positioned herself so far to the" -- a quote that was cut off. Next News Network could not independently verify the Holscher post or Kelly's remark.
Trump's closing message in Wichita leaned heavily on cultural and religious appeals, telling the crowd that his support among Christian voters was unmatched. "Whether you say Christianity, whether you say evangelical, I have a ball, whether you say Catholic, how about Catholic?" the transcript reads. "But the number one by far, like there was, I don't believe there was anybody even in second place."
He also returned repeatedly to Hamilton's past criticism of him. "But he say bad crap about me, and I don't like people that do that," Trump said, before describing Hamilton's alleged church spending and his views on race and diet. "He wants you to repent because you're born white and that Kansas should also repent for eating beef because you're causing global warming," Trump said.
The president concluded his remarks by tying the fuel program back to Marshall, casting the senator as the legislative partner who delivered it. "Roger got it to happen," he said. "Good job, Roger."
Trump's Truth account amplified the same Democratic roster argument hours before the rally, listing the figures under the heading that Democrats are the party of Abdul Mohammed al-Sayed, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, A.O.C., James TalaFREAKO, Elizabeth "Pocahontas" Warren and Maxine Waters. The rally transcript was circulated widely enough that a Substack account published a full video and transcript within hours of the event.
The president's Wichita appearance was framed by supporters as the closing argument of a midterm cycle in which Kansas Republicans are working to keep a Senate seat the party has held for nearly a century. Gunther Eagleman's post put the stakes in fifteen days, directing Kansas voters to re-elect Marshall, and tied the Democratic roster to welfare fraud allegations against the party's figures broadly.
The centerpiece of the evening was the fuel program, which Trump described as the Department of Agriculture's response to diesel costs farmers face at harvest. "Roger Marshall is the leader who fought for that to happen," he said.
Our Take
The president came to Kansas with two things to sell: a checkbook and a foil. The eight billion dollars in diesel relief is the tangible part, and it is the reason Roger Marshall wants Trump on the stage -- it lets the senator stand next to a president handing farmers money in the middle of harvest. The roster argument is the other half, and it is aimed at a different instinct entirely: the sense that a vote for Adam Hamilton is a vote for the national Democratic coalition and everything that comes with it.
That is a familiar closing strategy, and it is usually effective when the state's electorate is in a mood to be reminded. Kansas has not sent a Democrat to the Senate in ninety-four years, but The Washington Times reports the party is surging, and the New Republic reports the president is unnerved about a neighboring race. When a president spends his closing days in a state his party has owned since the Coolidge administration, he is not running up the score. He is playing defense.
The Holscher post and the church-dollars allegations are the kind of material that lands hard with the churchgoing voters Trump was explicitly courting in Wichita. They are also the kind of material that deserves independent verification before anyone treats it as settled, and the voters hearing it at a rally are not in a position to do that verification themselves.
Fourteen days out, the president's message to Kansas is simple: the diesel money is real, and the opposition is not what it claims to be. Whether that closes the gap is up to Kansas voters -- but the closing argument has been made, and it was made loudly.
