President Donald Trump waves after speaking at a rally at Resch Center Complex in Green Bay, Wis., Saturday. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — President Donald Trump boasted of a strong economy and criticized his Democratic presidential opponents Saturday night as he rallied supporters with familiar themes.

Trump pointed to the economy’s 3.2% growth in the first quarter before drawing even more applause by citing gains in employment and reductions in family poverty in Wisconsin. The state helped propel Trump’s 2016 victory, and Democrats are focused on reclaiming its electoral votes in 2020.

Turning to presidential politics, the president had a suggestion for members of the Democratic Party.

“They should change that to the Radical Left Democrat Party,” he told a crowd that nearly filled the 10,500-seat Resch Center in Green Bay. “It’s crazy what’s going on with them. Oh, do I look forward to running against them.”

It was a signal that what the president and Republicans have been saying about Democrats for months could be a lasting part of his reelection campaign story. Trump, who loves branding opponents, pointed to the Green New Deal, abortion rights policy and the self-described socialism of prominent Democrats to paint the whole party as radical.

In contrast, he said, “The Republican Party is the party of all Americans. And common sense,” he said, eliciting cheers and chants of “USA!”

Trump also referenced his nicknames for two of the leading Democratic presidential contenders — “Sleepy Joe” Biden and “Crazy Bernie” Sanders — and predicted that Elizabeth Warren’s candidacy was already over.

Turning to his nickname for Warren, a critic of Trump and a frequent target of the president, Trump said: “I think Pocahontas, she’s finished, she’s out.”

Trump warned his supporters that Democrats would take away their guns, promised anew to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico and pledged to come up with a plan for health care after the next election.

Trump scheduled the mid-evening rally at the same time members of the White House Correspondents’ Association gathered for their annual dinner. He refused the association’s invitation for the third straight time, a break from past practice by the president.

Also skipping the correspondents’ dinner to attend the rally was press secretary Sarah Sanders. In rare public praise for his chief spokeswoman, Trump called Sanders to the stage to say a few words.

“I’m so proud to work for the president,” Sanders said, and noted that she received a very different reception during the event she attended last year — the correspondents’ dinner in which the evening’s comedian lampooned her.

Trump’s rhetoric on immigration misleading

By CALVIN

WOODWARD

and HOPE YEN

Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is spreading misleading rhetoric about illegal immigration.

At a Wisconsin rally, he suggested he’s launched his plan to transport immigrants in the U.S. illegally to sanctuary cities in mass numbers — “my sick idea,” as he proudly called it. There’s no evidence that’s happening.

He’s also giving a confused outlook on the U.S. population growth, alternating between assertions that the country is too full to accept any more migrants and that it needs more migrants to fill jobs.

A review of rhetoric from Trump and his team:

IMMIGRATION

TRUMP: “Last month alone, 100,000 illegal immigrants arrived in our borders, placing a massive strain on communities and schools and hospitals and public resources, like nobody’s ever seen before. Now we’re sending many of them to sanctuary cities. Thank you very much. … I’m proud to tell you that was my sick idea.” — Green Bay, Wisconsin, rally Saturday.

THE FACTS: There’s no evidence a mass transfer to sanctuary cities is underway. He proposed the idea in part to punish Democratic congressional foes for inaction on the border, but his Homeland Security officials rejected the plan as unworkable.

Trump said this month he was “strongly considering” the proposal, hours after White House and Homeland Security officials had insisted the idea had been eschewed twice.

Sanctuary cities are places where local authorities do not cooperate with immigration officials, denying information or resources that would help them round up for deportation people living in the country illegally.

By all signs, federal officials considered the president’s words little more than bluster. His comments to the Wisconsin crowd appeared to be bluster, too.

People with knowledge of the discussions say White House staff discussed the idea with the Department of Homeland Security in November and February, but it was judged too costly and a misuse of money. The people were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

TRUMP on U.S. population: “We need people to come in.” — rally.

TRUMP: “We have companies pouring in. The problem is we need workers.” — Fox Business interview Sunday.

THE FACTS: His position is a flip from earlier this month, when he declared the U.S. to be “full” in light of the overwhelmed southern border.

In an April 7 tweet, he threatened to shut down the border unless Mexico apprehended all immigrants who crossed illegally. But it turns out the U.S. is only “full” in terms of the people Trump doesn’t want.

Immigrants as a whole make up a greater percentage of the total U.S. population than they did back in 1970, having grown from less than 5 percent of the population to more than 13 percent now. In 2030, it’s projected that immigrants will become the primary driver for U.S. population growth, overtaking U.S. births.