Struggling Republicans are carrying corrupt albatross around their necks: analysis

Semafor political reporter Dave Weigel says President Donald Trump is exactly the kind of albatross a struggling Republican candidate does not need when trying to sell a message to voters for the 2026 midterms.

“Donald Trump doesn't seem to care about winning the midterms,” said MS NOW “Weekend” co-host Eugene Daniels. “It seems for him it is about keeping his vise grip on the Republican Party. And there's evidence after evidence after evidence that is mounting that shows that that is probably true, that he doesn't seem to care.”

“If he cared, he'd probably spend a lot more time helping his party legislate and figure out a different bill, other than just the [unpopular] Big, Beautiful bill … for them to run on. He would probably not be endorsing people like [Texas AG Ken] Paxton. He probably wouldn't be telling folks to spend $33 million to take out [Rep. Thomas] Massie [in Kentucky] to just get another Republican in this primary. When you think about a leader of a party who cares only about [his] grip of the party and not the success of the party, where does that leave the party?”

“If Republicans had their way, … then this month would have been about tax refunds. And it wasn't because the president was talking about something else,” said Weigel. “This week would now have been about Trump [slush fund] accounts and [Treasury Secretary] Scott Benson’s presser. You saw the clips from that presser.”

“And if you're just scanning your phone … the news is about the $250 bill. They're about something that Trump wants for him, for himself,” Weigel added. “… [I]f you talk to Republicans, they have things they were planning to run on. They were planning to run ads … in their states and go after Democrats. But then you'll see the snap back where they have to message what Trump is messaging on, and it's much less effective.”

With the United States' 2026 midterms a little over five months away, Trump's low approval ratings in poll after poll are also a major source of angst for GOP strategists, even as Trump appears to ignore or outright deny the bad news. During a Cabinet meeting, Trump even denied that his war with Iran is unpopular, telling reporters that American voters "understand that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon."

Other political pundits grudgingly admit on camera that it ‘did not go very well” when past Republican presidents ignored the opinions of voters in pursuit of policy goals, such as George W. Bush’s war in Iraq.

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