U.S. President Donald Trump urged his supporters to turn out to vote on the 10th (local time), claiming that the U.S. economy would fall into a recession if the opposition Democratic Party wins the November midterm elections.

Speaking at a midterm campaign rally in Clarksville, Tennessee, President Trump said, "If the Democrats win, you are going to experience a 1929-style Great Depression," adding, "All you have to do is vote for the Republican Party."

Tennessee is known as a Republican stronghold.

During the 2024 presidential election, President Trump achieved a landslide victory in Tennessee, defeating his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris by a margin of about 30 percentage points.

Although the Republican Party faces a gloomy outlook in the broader midterm elections, favorable conditions for the GOP have formed in both the U.S. Senate and gubernatorial races in Tennessee.

Nevertheless, President Trump's visit to the state is interpreted as a strategy to encourage turnout among his staunch base of supporters, known as MAGA (Make America Great Again), across the entire nation.

Right from the start of his speech, President Trump urged, "Vote as if I am on the ballot," and said, "You must go out and vote because the communist and socialist Democrats will commit election fraud."

He added, "We must win by such a large margin that this election cannot be rigged. Early voting in Tennessee begins on October 14, so let's win big."

Throughout his speech, President Trump repeatedly emphasized, "You must go out and vote" and "You must vote Republican."

Addressing high oil prices caused by the war with Iran, President Trump claimed, "We have lowered all prices, and oil prices are even lower than they were under Biden," while emphasizing, "We have resolved the Iran nuclear issue. The moment we end this war, oil prices will drop sharply, and the war will end very soon."

President Trump mentioned that thanks to his tariff policy, both domestic and foreign companies are making substantial investments in the U.S., specifically citing South Korean company Korea Zinc's investment in Tennessee.

He said, "Thanks to my tariff policy, Korea Zinc is investing more than $6 billion (approx. 8 trillion won) to create 740 jobs right here in Montgomery County and Smith County," adding, "It will bring the first new mineral smelter built in the United States since 1979."

Meanwhile, after mentioning the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and Lake Ontario to Lake America, President Trump brought up potential targets for further renaming, saying, "We need an ocean. So I was thinking about the Atlantic or the Pacific. How about calling them the 'Trump Ocean' or the 'America Ocean'?"

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)