Trump advisers privately strategize around a new midterm push: Democrats would be worse
President Donald Trump’s political team knows voters are unhappy with the status quo. But they are betting they can convince them that things will get worse if the Democrats return to power in November.
Trump’s top advisers are planning an election push focused on messaging the midterms as a stark choice between the two parties’ platforms rather than an election. Direct referendum on the success of Trump’s presidencyAccording to four people involved in the private planning.
The strategy is based on internal polls that show that while Americans dislike Trump and his overall performance, Republicans still have a trust advantage over the Democratic Party on some key issues.
Chief of staff Susie Wiles and James Blair, who left the White House to run Trump’s political operation, were among those outlining the planned approach at a meeting with close allies at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington earlier this week.
“[Democrats] ‘Do you think everything is perfect?’ Do you want to have a referendum on the issue?” Someone in the room explained the overall message: “For us it’s a question of: Do you want to go forward and successfully get the job done and get the job done? Or will we go backwards to record inflation and high crime rates?
Despite increasing odds, Republicans are looking for ways to save their majority in Congress. Unpopular war in the Middle East and deep Voters’ dissatisfaction with the cost of living.
That effort became even more challenging Tuesday night after Virginia voters approved a redistricting referendum that could give Democrats four more congressional seats in November. Republicans currently hold 217 seats in the House (213) among Democrats and one independent caucus in the GOP.
The Trump team’s plans appear to tacitly acknowledge that the president lost significant ground with voters last year and that more energy must be devoted to attacking Democrats as a result. Trump’s declining approval ratings were not the subject of extensive discussion during the Waldorf meeting, people in the room said.
Instead, consultants emphasized the need to better leverage the GOP’s popular policy successes while portraying Democrats as obstructionists with no substantive agenda of their own.
“It’s all forward-looking and not really about the White House,” said another person in the room. They described a key element of the approach as warning voters that if Democrats win full control of Congress, “that means gridlock, it means nothing gets done. And we don’t believe that’s what the American people want.”
There are several areas where Trump advisers believe Democrats are particularly weak; These include general opposition to GOP tax policies in last year’s “big, beautiful bill” as well as the party’s record on issues like border security and crime.
Still, advisers acknowledged there remains a significant challenge in steering individual Democrats toward the most unpopular parts of the party’s overall brand, people in the room said. This is even more complicated considering Lack of a clear leader at the top of the Democratic Party someone who can serve as a singular representation of his agenda.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment. In a sign of the increasing secrecy surrounding Trump’s political operation, those in attendance at Monday’s meeting were asked to sign confidentiality agreements, people in the room said.
Blair confirmed the NDA policy, first reported by The Washington Post, and told CNN that “they are necessary because we are running an operation, not a social club.”
Among those attending: Chris LaCivita, the top GOP official who is helping steer Trump’s 2024 campaign; Jason Miller, Trump’s longtime political advisor; and Trump campaign pollster Tony Fabrizio.
The session was the latest in a series of private presentations by Blair and Wiles in recent months as the White House prepares for a midterm cycle that Trump has described as critical to the future of his presidency.
If Republicans lose their slim majority in the House of Representatives, Trump and his GOP allies have warned that it would effectively stall the administration’s agenda and subject the matter to a series of investigations, including potentially new impeachment efforts.
Trump advisers had initially laid out plans to take the president on the road nearly every week to support GOP candidates and bolster their success, especially among the low-turnout Trump voters Republicans will need in November’s elections.
But this early plan was thwarted by Trump’s decision to strike Iran, setting off a war that has continued for two months with no clear end in sight. The conflict further weakened Trump and Republicans’ political standing while deepening the party’s affordability challenges by driving the price of gas above $4 per gallon; This was reflected in the overall economy.
Trump advisers have downplayed the impact of the war despite growing concerns among much of the GOP and insisted midterm races will be determined primarily by voters’ domestic concerns. As Trump tried to stop the conflict, the pace of his team’s election planning increased once again.
Trump announced earlier this month that Blair planned to leave the White House temporarily to run the president’s overfunded foreign operation; It was a move that allies described as critical for closely coordinating party-wide political activities.
Alex Meyer, a former senior Trump campaign official who now runs the White House office of intergovernmental affairs, is also expected to leave the administration to help with foreign efforts, two people familiar with the matter said.
Staffing moves renewed speculation among GOP officials about how Trump advisers plans to distribute approximately $350 million The president’s central super PAC is MAGA Inc. has recovered so far.
MAGA Inc. officials have yet to widely publicize plans for his strategy within the party, including how much he will spend to boost House and Senate candidates and when that spending will begin.
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