Top Republicans are desperately hoping President Donald Trump doesn’t make this week’s midterm convention all about himself.
Dozens of GOP heavy-hitters told Politico on Tuesday they’re crossing their fingers that their 80-year-old leader will use the unorthodox event in Dallas—dubbed ‘Trump-a-palooza’—to trumpet the party’s record in Congress over the past two years.
But there are fears among the Republican ranks that Trump will use the convention to make the midterms a referendum on himself—while his approval ratings are tanking to historic lows.
“It’s incredibly important that we highlight what we’ve accomplished,” Wisconsin Rep. Derrick Van Orden told the outlet. West Virginia Rep. Riley Moore said that speakers at the conference shouldn’t stray from “what’s on the line” for voters at the November polls.
“It’s going to be an extraordinary opportunity for us to get a couple of nights on national television to talk about our extraordinary record of achievement,” Speaker Mike Johnson added.
Voters have consistently ranked cost-of-living concerns as their chief anxiety ahead of the midterms, while the president has decried widespread unaffordability as a Democratic Party “hoax.”
Trump has failed to wrap up his war with Iran, which he pledged would last a “few weeks” and has now entered its sixth month. Soaring gas prices as a result of that conflict, along with trade wars with key international partners, have only added to the crunch felt from inflation, which the president has also pledged and failed to curb.
He is also obsessed with his MAGA revamp of Washington, D.C., but his focus on vanity projects like his White House Ballroom and planned 250-foot Trump Arch is failing to win over voters, Republicans fear.
One issue Trump and his party seem united on is a collective drive to paint the Democratic Party as overrun by an increasingly extreme left-wing ideology. They point to a run of victories by progressive candidates, like New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, as signs of that trend.
“You’ve got Republicans that are campaigning on commonsense ideas. You’ve got Democrats that are being drawn to the absolute most extreme left of their party,” as Rep. Brian Jack of Georgia put it to Politico.
Not everyone is sold on this week’s Republican midterm convention being a good idea anyway. The party is giving away free tickets in a frantic bid to fill seats as numerous lawmakers and candidates plan to skip the event.
Rep. Morgan Griffith, of Virginia, told Politico that the convention is an “interesting concept,” but that he’d be too busy campaigning at home to attend.
“I’m going to look forward to listening to it on the radio as I’m driving down the road, going from one spot in my district to another,” Griffith said. His district is the safest red seat in the state.
The Daily Beast has contacted White House for comment on this story.
