Trump To Rescue Republicans By Making Midterms Entirely About Himself
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he will rescue vulnerable Republicans in the 2026 midterms by providing their campaigns with what they have lacked most: prolonged public association with a president whose approval rating has settled comfortably in the low 30s. Speaking at a Sept. 2 Rose Garden dinner for Republican lawmakers, Trump promised to campaign in roughly three dozen contests during the final 30 days before the Nov. 3 election. Party strategists described the blitz as an electoral resistance-training program under which endangered candidates build strength by surviving repeated televised appearances beside the president.
Trump said each stop would allow local Republicans to replace distracting issues such as prices, health care and housing with the nationally unifying subject of Trump. “Nobody has ever helped candidates more than I have, because when I arrive, their race disappears completely and everybody talks about me,” Trump said. “That is called leadership, and frankly Abraham Lincoln never had crowds like mine.” The president is expected to speak for approximately 90 minutes at each event, praise his own record, assign the candidate a nickname and explain that congressional representation is primarily a supporting role in his continuing autobiography.
The itinerary is expected to include Alaska, where Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan faces reelection in a state Trump carried by 13 points in 2024. Republican officials said presidential intervention there demonstrates the party’s success in expanding the battlefield from competitive states into territory previously classified as safe. The tour will also energize Democrats, independents, nervous suburban voters, television producers, fact-checkers and anyone who had briefly forgotten why midterm elections exist. Consultants said candidates will receive a simple, disciplined message: run on Trump’s record, run from Trump’s record or simply run. By making every congressional contest a referendum on himself, Trump has eliminated the possibility that voters will blame Republicans for Donald Trump.
* None of the quotes in this article were spoken by an actual person. More info.