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Trump Adviser Cautiously Optimistic on Midterms Despite Economic Concerns
Developing
In Short: Top Trump political adviser James Blair says he’s ‘cautiously optimistic’ about the midterms, despite growing concerns over the party’s economic agenda.
Rep. Mike Johnson, the House speaker, has framed the midterms as a referendum on Trump’s presidency, highlighting the importance of the upcoming elections.
Several Republican lawmakers, including Reps. Tom Barrett and Zach Nunn, plan to skip a midterm GOP convention in Texas, called by Trump, indicating a lack of enthusiasm among some members of the party.
Blair acknowledges the challenges but believes Republicans can retain their majorities in Congress, emphasizing the need to address both national and local concerns.
What's still developing
- “I’m not affected by the election,” Trump told reporters last week.
- 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.
- The party that controls the White House typically loses seats in Congress in the midterms.
Sources
- NBC Newslink