Spotlight-loving President Donald Trump avoided cameras for the second day in a row as he phoned in to a rally ahead of a crucial redistricting vote.
The 79-year-old, who hasn’t been on camera since his Saturday Oval Office meeting, appeared via audio alongside House Speaker Mike Johnson at a tele-rally on Monday night, urging Virginia voters to fight the state’s critical redistricting vote on Tuesday.
“What’s going to happen if we lose these elections—you know, in this case, the House—it’s going to be a disaster," Trump lamented over the phone during the tele-rally. “If they do this, they’re guaranteed to pick up a lot of seats, and it’s, everybody knows it’s unjust. Including them.”
“If the Democrats—if they get additional House seats, at some point, if they get these additional seats, they’re going to be making changes at the federal level," he added.
The Daily Beast reached out to the White House for comment.
Unusually camera-shy over the weekend and Monday, despite being in D.C., the president maintained a busy schedule, attending policy meetings and signing executive orders, according to his schedule.
All events after his Saturday executive order signing featuring Joe Rogan, however, were closed to the press. The order instructed the FDA to expedite clinical trials into the use of psychedelic drugs in treating mental health disorders. He also participated in a phone call with PBS on Monday morning, telling White House correspondent Liz Landers that if the ceasefire with Iran expires on Tuesday, “then lots of bombs start going off.”
The president is slated to return to America’s screens on Tuesday, where he is scheduled to deliver remarks to the NCAA Collegiate National Champions at the White House in the afternoon. He is also set to do an interview, again by phone, with Squawk Box on CNBC in the morning.
Over the weekend, Trump launched a promotional posting spree on Truth Social, hyping himself up with positive posts praising his performance while his administration tried to put out the fires he started.
One fire in particular centered around a Wall Street Journal report that alleged the geriatric president had a meltdown earlier this month over news that two American airmen went missing in Iran.
The Virginia referendum on a new redistricting plan, if confirmed by Tuesday’s vote, could provide Democrats with four additional House seats after November’s midterm elections.
Former President Barack Obama urged voters in the Old Dominion to vote “yes” in a video message shared with ABC News on Friday.
“By voting yes, you have a chance to do something important, not just for the Commonwealth, but for our entire country,” he said in the video he also shared to social media.
“By voting yes, you can push back against the Republicans trying to give themselves an unfair advantage in the midterms. By voting yes, you can take a temporary step to level the playing field, and we’re counting on you.”
A Washington Post/Schar School poll conducted late last month found that 52 percent of likely voters were in favor of redrawing the state’s congressional maps, while 47 percent oppose.
