Trump Delivers a Closing Midterm Message. Mostly About Landscaping.

President Trump was standing in front of the Reflecting Pool on Monday afternoon, doing a little reflecting of his own.

“For some reason,” he was saying, the Washington Monument mirrored in the newly reopened pool behind him, “the sitting president doesn’t win the midterms. But we gave this a very strong shot.”

It was the day before the election, and the president had decided to come here, a place that excites him, to talk about many of the topics that make him happiest. Trouble is, almost none of those topics have anything to do with the issues that are driving this election.

At a time when voters have made clear they’re most concerned with the high prices of gas and groceries and a new war in the Middle East, Mr. Trump used his final in-person appearance before Americans head to the polls to talk about drain pipes, top soil, limestone, fountains and his favorite kind of columns.

“The pipes now are totally renovated,” Mr. Trump said. Propped up next to him was a poster board showing an aerial view of the pool, with this caption: “Back, and more beautiful than ever!”

The “brand-new pipes,” Mr. Trump said, are “very important in terms of the algae and other things. And it’s a complete job, and we’re very proud of it.”