Geraldo Rivera, a longtime friend of President Donald Trump and former Fox News host, says the president is showing growing signs of desperation as he campaigns in Republican-leaning states that are now at risk of electing Democrats on Nov. 3.

Trump has pledged to campaign every day for Republicans, but many GOP candidates appear reluctant to be seen with him. He is instead headed to red states that have become dangerously competitive ahead of the November elections. Presidential campaign travel has traditionally been concentrated in competitive battleground states, where the outcome is genuinely in doubt.

Appearing on CNN on Monday, Rivera was asked by co-host Brianna Keilar whether Trump's effort to "barnstorm" red states amounted to a "Hail Mary" or something else.

"I see it as desperation more than anything else," Rivera said. He pointed to Latino voters as a prime example. "Anyone who voted Republican — well not everyone — but two out of three have now decided to go the other way. Back, in many cases, to the Democrats. From Florida to Texas, to Arizona, California. I think that huge Latino belt in the southern part of the country is going to go overwhelmingly, overwhelmingly for the Democrats."

Keilar cited a new NBC News/Telemundo poll conducted at the end of September, which put Trump's approval among Latino voters at roughly 27 percent, with disapproval at 69 percent. She asked whether that gap was large enough to make a real difference.

"I think cost of living is very important to voters. So is the war in Iran that the president started with no clear idea how to end," Rivera said. "But I think really, if you were to ask me in my heart of hearts, Brianna, I think it is the absolute cruelty, the abject cruelty with which the Trump administration has administered its immigration policy."

He suggested the only way Republicans could ever hope to salvage Latino voters in the future would be to abandon the administration's abusive techniques.

Rivera also weighed in on Ohio's U.S. Senate race, where Democratic former Sen. Sherrod Brown could unseat Sen. Jon Husted in a contest that is running fairly even. "I don't think the president is helping at all in this," he said.

In Rivera's view, Trump "seems to be doubling down on it. He wants to have the whole state wired. And this one issue in the case of our senate race here, Sherrod Brown, has been catapulted to the front of this race, largely because of the concern over data centers and how controversial they are."

Brown has warned that data centers could take power and water from residents of the state and further drive up costs. Data centers are the server-dense facilities that underpin cloud computing and artificial intelligence, and their heavy demand for electricity and water has made them a flash point in communities across the country.

"And the president is saying, you know ... he's implying that he would like to see many more. And that freaks out a lot of people," Rivera said.

He argued that Trump's decision to spend time in midwestern red states rather than traditional battlegrounds "tells us that there is within the inner sanctum of the Republican Party, a kind of desperation brewing."

"You know, tomorrow is the last day to register to vote and the first day for voting," Rivera added. "But I just think that this could be that kind of blue wave that gives Republicans shudders." With registration closing and voting set to begin the next day, the contests Rivera described move into their final stretch, with the questions he raised about Latino voters, the Ohio Senate race, and the president's red-state itinerary to be settled when polls close on Nov. 3.