Trump Hits ‘Caravan, Kavanaugh, Tax Cuts, and Common Sense’

President Donald Trump descended on Texas Monday and delivered a pre-election pep rally that hammered the migrant caravan, Democrats and media — all while praising Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), his erstwhile rival from the 2016 GOP primaries.

The massive Make America Great Again (MAGA) rally crowd in Houston was boisterous, a good sign for Republican leaders eager to gin up enthusiasm on their side and blunt a blue wave in midterm elections, which are two weeks and a day away.

Cruz (pictured above left) leads O’Rourke by 9 points as the campaign hits its final stretch. More than 100,000 people tried to get tickets for the rally in downtown Houston’s 19,000-seat Toyota Center arena.

Big screens, live entertainment and free food were provided to the thousands outside having a “Big Texas Tailgater.”

Actually, for many states, Election Day already has arrived. Early voting in Texas started Monday and has been underway in some other states.

“This will be the election of the caravan, Kavanaugh, tax cuts, and common sense,” the president said. “That’s what it is, common sense.”

Those were references to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the throng of Central Americans — estimated in size at between 5,000 and 10,000 people — headed north through Mexico toward the United States.

Trump called the caravan an “assault on our country” and full of “very bad people.” He repeated his familiar allegation that Democrats played a role in organizing or encouraging the caravan.

“I think the Democrats had something to do with it,” he said. “And now they’re saying, ‘I think we made a big mistake.’ Because people are seeing how bad it is, how pathetic it is, how bad our laws are.”

Trump’s mention of immigration, generally, prompted the crowd to launch into a chant of “Build that wall!”

Trump took a victory lap on Kavanaugh, whose nomination was almost sunk after three separate women accused him of sexual assault when he was a teenager. Kavanaugh denied all of the allegations, and none of the multiple witnesses named by the three women backed up their accusations.

Trump did not ignore the elephant in the Toyota Center — his bitter battle with Cruz for the 2016 nomination. Cable news channels have delighted in playing old clips of Trump calling Cruz “Lyin’ Ted” and Cruz returning fire.

“You know, we had our little difficulties,” the president said.

Trump noted that his relationship with Cruz started as a “love fest.” The two held a joint rally in 2015 outside the U.S. Capitol in the early days of the presidential nomination fight.

As the giant field winnowed, though, it was all but inevitable the relationship would deteriorate.

“It got nasty. And it ended,” Trump said. “And I’ll tell you what. Nobody has helped me more with your tax cuts, with your regulation, with all of the things that we’re doing … than Sen. Cruz. Nobody.”

Trump lit into Cruz’s opponent in the Senate race, Rep. Beto O’Rourke. He mocked the Democrat’s name, calling him a “stone-cold phony” and emphasizing the congressman’s given name — Robert Francis O’Rourke.

“He pretends to be a moderate,” he said. “But he’s actually a radical, open-borders left-winger. That’s what he is. And I know Texas well.”

Cruz, who warmed up the crowd for Trump, also blasted his Senate opponent.

“There’s a fundamental choice, a fundamental choice for our state,” he said. “Do we continue on the road to prosperity, or do we turn back to Obama stagnations? Do we defend freedom? Or do we give into tyranny? Do we embrace jobs? Or do we give in to mobs?”

Related: 77K Sign Up for Trump’s Texas MAGA Rally Monday in 18K Arena

Cruz said he worked with Trump to cut taxes last year and has supported his judicial appointments.

“Beto O’Rourke wants higher taxes,” he said. “Beto voted against the tax cut. He voted repeatedly in favor of higher property taxes.”

In addition to the property tax increases, for which O’Rourke voted as a member of the El Paso City Council before winning election to the House, Cruz said his opponent voted for a “rain tax” for the city.

“I don’t even know what that is,” Cruz said. “But here in Texas, we celebrate when it rains. We don’t tax you for it.”

An upset in Texas for Democrats would greatly advance their hopes of taking control of the Senate.