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Top Trump political adviser James Blair says he’s ‘cautiously optimistic’ about midterms
Developing
In Short: Top Trump political adviser James Blair says he’s ‘cautiously optimistic’ about the midterms, according to NBC News. However, the party that controls the White House typically loses seats in Congress during midterms, according to reports.
Several Republican lawmakers, including Reps. Tom Barrett and Zach Nunn, plan on skipping a midterm GOP convention called by Trump, indicating potential divisions within the party.
Blair views the midterms as being driven by both national and local concerns, with the economy serving as a significant issue for voters, according to NBC News.
What's still developing
- “I’m not affected by the election,” Trump told reporters last week.
- But Rep. Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican and speaker of the House, said last week that the midterms would serve as a referendum on Trump’s presidency.
- Approaching the halfway point of Trump’s second term, a president who won reelection based on a promise to turn the economy around now faces a reckoning in the midterm elections centered largely on his economic record.
- Trump’s economic agenda has emerged as an increasingly awkward liability for Republicans heading into the November elections, leaving lawmakers to defend policies that have delivered political pain at home, even as the White House argues they will pay off in the long run.
- Yet James Blair, a top Trump political adviser, said he still believes Republicans can hang on to their majorities in Congress — although he knows it won’t be easy.
- “What they [Democrats] want a Republican to be measured against is, ‘Do you think everything is going perfectly?’” Blair said.
- Trump has repeatedly said that the ongoing conflict has achieved its goal of preventing Iran from building a nuclear weapon, something that Blair cited as a political success, despite the president’s low marks from voters on his handling of the war.
- “We’re still cleaning up that mess, and we need more time to finish the job,” Blair said.
Sources
- NBC Newslink