President Donald Trump is stoking GOP anxiety as he makes himself his party’s midterm mascot while leaving them in the lurch to chase his vanity projects.
With less than 70 days until the midterms, the 80-year-old president’s poll numbers are in the basement as voters grow frustrated with his failure to deliver on the promises that propelled him back to the White House.
But Trump, apparently unwilling to accept his own unpopularity or the damage it could do to GOP candidates across the country, continues to put himself front and center in the election fight, even headlining a “midterm convention” in Dallas next month.
That has Republican strategists, desperate to keep the races focused on individual candidates rather than Trump, on edge, the Daily Beast’s Political Correspondent Farrah Tomazin said on The Daily Beast Podcast.
“A lot of strategists that I’ve spoken to are asking, ‘Why on earth are we doing this? Why are we not sort of, you know, getting out there and really sort of localizing... these debates?’” she told the Daily Beast’s Global Editorial Director Nico Hines.
But even as Trump makes himself the center of attention, he has appeared more interested in his vanity projects than helping Republicans win.
“Not only has he not delivered, but he’s also shifted the focus so much to himself that his priorities are shot, and people can see that,” Tomazin said. “I mean, this morning he spent the entire morning... posting on Truth Social images of his vanity projects: the various fountains that he’s, you know, spruced up in Washington, D.C.”
Tomazin noted that Trump had promised to usher in a “Golden Age” by bringing down prices and getting the U.S. out of foreign entanglements, but instead launched a quagmire of a war against Iran, sending gas prices soaring, with inflation now higher than when he took office..
“It’s like... you promised me all this. It’s not only not happening, but you’re also now focusing your attention on expensive projects like a White House ballroom, a helipad, a big arch in honor of yourself... and not talking enough about my problems,” Tomazin said, channeling a voter’s perspective.
The billionaire president, however, has made little secret of his indifference toward winning over voters ahead of the midterms, while delivering lines like “I love the inflation,” and “I don’t care about the midterms.”
While Americans have been left footing the bill for soaring energy costs, Trump has benefited from the surge in energy stocks fueled by his war and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, with his oil and gas holdings potentially gaining as much as $15.5 million this year, according to a new report from Democrats on the congressional Joint Economic Committee.
When reached for comment, White House spokesman Davis Ingle defended Trump’s building fixations and claimed the president was lowering gas prices.
“President Trump can walk and chew gum at the same time,” Ingle told the Daily Beast. “As a result, the Trump administration continues to deliver on the president’s affordability agenda by lowering drug prices, reshoring American jobs, lowering gas prices, and more. Thanks to the Builder-in-Chief, no other president has done more to beautify our Nation’s interior than President Trump. From restoring our treasured landmarks, which had suffered years of abuse and vandalism, to cleaning our parks and the Reflecting Pool, President Trump’s bold vision is ensuring the People’s House and our Nation’s Capital will be properly glorified and remain in excellent condition for generations to come.”
New episodes of The Daily Beast Podcast are released every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday on YouTube, and on other podcast platforms the next morning. Follow our new feed on your favorite podcast platform at beast.pub/dailybeastpod and subscribe on YouTube to watch full episodes.
