Republicans are rushing to distance themselves from Donald Trump as they’re seeing an increasingly ugly landscape heading into the midterms.
Facing the prospect of a disastrous election cycle, even MAGA candidates have been jumping ship to avoid being dragged down by their leader’s unpopularity.
The president’s approval rating is an abysmal 33 percent, according to a new CNN poll released on Wednesday. It shows just 27 percent of Americans approve of his handling of the economy overall and 20 percent approve of his handling of inflation.
At the same time, a new Marist Poll showed Democrats with a 12-point advantage in who registered voters would prefer in the midterms. 53 percent said they would vote for Democratic candidates while just 41 percent said they’d vote for Republican ones.
Multiple Republicans in tough battleground races have been calling for an end to Trump’s Iran war this week as the conflict sends prices soaring.
On Tuesday evening, GOP Iowa Senate candidate Ashley Hinson called for the House to return to Washington, D.C. to address skyrocketing costs. The House is not slated to return until after the midterms.
In a post on X, the Iowa Senate candidate argued they should “work to pause diesel exports, suspend the gas tax, fully unleash E15 and biodiesel, and work on a diesel relief program for truckers and farmers.”
Hinson was immediately blasted by critics who pointed out she voted against ending the Iran war multiple times.
Ohio Republican Senator Jon Husted, who is facing a tight race against former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, also urged Trump to make peace, telling Politico that the war “needs to come to an end as quickly as possible so that we can lower gas prices.”
In nearby Michigan, Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers posted a video of himself in a grocery store, where he raised concerns about higher prices.
“The war with Iran needs to end and end quickly,” Rogers said to camera.
He argued that when the war ends, energy prices will drop, but he also called for the suspension of federal and state gas taxes and an embargo on diesel exports.
Alaska GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan echoed a similar push to address energy costs; he demanded a temporary pause in American diesel exports on Tuesday. He said prices are “too damn high” as he fends off a challenge by former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola for the Senate seat.
Despite Republicans’ desperate hopes to put the war behind them, Trump said on Tuesday he expects an Iran deal after the midterms. However, his repeated claims that it would end “soon” have dragged on for months.
At the same time, multiple Republicans have started scrubbing the president’s image and endorsements from their websites despite Trump urging supporters to pretend he’s on the ballot.
In Florida, MAGA Rep. Byron Donalds was the latest Republican to remove images of him with Trump that were plastered across his campaign website for governor. He also noticeably cut down the mentions of Trump’s endorsements, even as a campaign official argued Trump’s endorsement was worth its weight in gold.
More than a handful of other GOP candidates have put distance between themselves and Trump with changes to their campaign websites in recent weeks.
House candidate Ralph Alvarado and Senate candidate Rep. Andy Barr in Kentucky, House candidate Mike Bouchard in Michigan, Rep. Nick Begich seeking reelection in Alaska, and California Reps. Young Kim and James Gallagher have all dropped images and references to the president on their websites.
Then there was Republican Florida Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, who recently dropped a campaign ad calling out some of Trump’s immigration crackdown as “going too far” while standing in front of the White House.
A series of House Republicans have recently touted their ability to work across the aisle even as their party leader has raged against Democrats.
Iowa Rep. Zach Nunn has been bragging about being one of the “top three most bipartisan members of Congress.” He, along with fellow Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, was among the seven Republicans who joined Democrats in voting for a resolution to end the Iran war before the House skipped town.
But cracks have also appeared in the alliance between the president and some Republicans not facing tough reelection bids.
This week GOP Sen. John Curtis of Utah called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate a Russian oligarch paying for the president’s son Don Jr.’s wedding festivities.
Then there was Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who criticized Trump for his plan to greet Chinese President Xi Jinping this week with a lavish welcome ceremony at the White House.
“Our commander-in-chief should keep in mind that his guest is a brutal, unelected, and oppressive dictator who seeks to dominate his neighbors and whose massive military arsenal is aimed directly at the United States of America,” Wicker said on the Senate floor.
