President Donald Trump intends to put himself at the front and center of this fall’s Republican midterms campaigning, despite not being on the ballot and in spite of his dire approval ratings, according to a report. The Atlantic reports that Trump met with his political advisers in the Oval Office earlier this month to discuss how best to deploy his MAGA Inc super PAC’s $400 million war chest to boost GOP candidates. The advisers reportedly warned the president about his tanking ratings and pointed to a lack of awareness among voters about his accomplishments, which they identified as a series of stock market highs, a reduction in fentanyl deaths, a “sealed” U.S.-Mexico border blocking illegal entries and an increase in domestic manufacturing.
Per The Atlantic, the president ultimately decided against a more tailored approach to individual candidates and local races, as some advisers recommended, in favor of making the midterms a referendum on his own record since returning to Washington, leaning into a strategy also likely to be adopted by Democrats – albeit for opposing reasons. Trump duly ordered a series of TV spots highlighting his achievements, as he sees them, to run nationwide in support of House of Representatives and Senate candidates, effectively nationalizing the contest. MAGA Inc told the outlet it did not discuss its ad spending plans but White House spokesperson Olivia Wales said: “President Trump is cleaning up Joe Biden’s mess.
With narrow conservative majorities in both chambers of Congress in jeopardy and the party of the incumbent president almost always losing seats at the midterms (Bill Clinton in 1998 and George W Bush in 2002 are two recent exceptions), there seems no question the strategy is risky. Trump’s popularity hit the lowest level of his presidency last week when a /Ipsos survey put him on just 33 percent. Voters have consistently told pollsters they do not feel the president has done enough to address inflation and the cost of living crisis they face, which has been exacerbated by his unpopular war with Iran driving up gas prices as a consequence of the shuttering of the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump campaigned in 2024 on the explicit promise of delivering a new American “golden age” that few believe has materialized and on ending “forever war” commitments in the Middle East, only to find himself embroiled in precisely that having overruled his own intelligence experts who warned him against it. Clearly undaunted by doubts about his brand, the president has already roadtested the messaging in his recent stumping on behalf of South Carolina Sen. Now, some people haven’t seen it yet, but they will.” He added: “What I really want you to do is pretend, please, that I’m on the ballot.
Just say that I’m on the ballot one more time.” Former Barack Obama senior strategist David Axelrod pointed out the high-wire nature of the approach, telling The Atlantic: “If you’re the average person out there, you’re seeing that and thinking: ‘What planet is he living on?’ “You have to acknowledge that people are struggling and this is a work in progress.” Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
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