President Donald Trump’s allies are privately fuming about his inability to focus on voters’ priorities, as the November midterms look increasingly dire for Republicans.
With the president facing record-low approval ratings, Democrats are now predicted to take back control of the House, and are also proving more competitive than expected in several key Senate races, unless something major changes in the next six months.
After spending much of last year focused on making deals with other countries, Trump’s aides had said he would prioritize domestic issues this year, including affordability. Instead, he has become mired in a war with Iran that is driving up costs.
Even when he does host events designed to sell his domestic agenda, he gets sidetracked by projects and feuds that voters don’t care about, several Republican strategists complained to The New York Times.
For example, earlier this month, he hosted a PR stunt with a DoorDash courier to highlight the “no tax on tips” provision of the GOP’s 2025 spending bill, only to undermine himself by talking about his ongoing feud with Pope Leo XIV, who has spoken out against Trump’s foreign invasions.
GOP strategists have been trading synonyms to describe the bleak political environment, including “sour,” “ugly,” “bad,” and “bleak,” sources told the Times.
Longtime Republican strategist Mike Murphy told the Times that the GOP is experiencing a moment of “panic,” and joked about a “spike in liquor sales to Republicans” seeking to numb the pain.
“I can’t imagine a worse scenario than the one he is in right now,” Murphy said of Trump. “The Democrats—not because they’ve done anything, but because they’re not Trump—have surged.”
Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich said that if the midterms were in May, Republicans would lose.
“The war, the sense of affordability and gasoline—some of that has to be cleared up in order to win,” he told the Times. “If it doesn’t change, I’ll start tearing my hair out.”
He also urged the GOP party leadership to “get reality a little better—and get communications a hell of a lot better.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
Trump, meanwhile, has been fixated on a series of vanity projects—including his $400 million White House ballroom, the 200-foot “Arch de Trump,” and a gold coin with the president’s scowling face on it.
In the meantime, more Americans say they’re getting poorer than at any time in the past 25 years, with many struggling to afford basics such as food, housing, and fuel.
