Republicans in for a rude awakening: Conservative says Trump won't pivot to economy

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U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 18, 2026. REUTERS/Eric Lee

President Donald Trump remains fixated on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act, angrily berating "stupid" GOP senators for not passing the voting bill. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) and other Republican lawmakers are saying that the votes to pass it simply aren't there — and that Trump should be focusing on the economy instead. But conservative David M. Drucker, in a Bloomberg News column, stresses that Republicans who hope Trump will change course and "pivot" to the economy are dreaming.

"For Republicans in Congress who've been clinging to hope that President Donald Trump might finally focus on the economy ahead of the midterm elections," Drucker argues, "their time might be better spent searching for proof that the tooth fairy is real. The same day Trump reaffirmed support for an agreement with Iran to end the war, he turned his attention to Capitol Hill. Did he demand or introduce legislation addressing voters' No. 1 priority, what they believe is an unacceptably high cost of living? No. Rather, the president revived his push to strongarm how the 50 states and Washington, DC administer elections — an issue that barely registers on voters' radar, outside of MAGA social media circles."

Trump, according to Drucker, is so obsessed with the SAVE America Act that he is "holding hostage renewal of crucial government spying tools, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act" — much to the frustration of GOP senators.

"Of course, the president could be focused on more than one issue at a time; that goes with the job," Drucker writes. "But he still refuses to acknowledge that any aspect of the economy is underperforming on matters related to affordability or otherwise."

In a June 21 post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote, "Our Country is doing GREAT. Record Jobs Numbers and Stock Market. BEST ECONOMY EVER! We are WINNING on all fronts. WINNING LIKE NEVER BEFORE." And he recently told reporters, "The word 'affordability' is a fake word, made up by the Democrats."

Such messaging, Drucker notes, is frustrating GOP lawmakers and is "just not reality."

"Inflation has spiked since Trump launched the Iran war on February 28, with the Consumer Price Index climbing 0.5 percent from April to May — and a whopping 4.2 percent since the same period in 2025, according to the Labor Department," Drucker observes. "That was the highest rate of inflation since the 4.9 percent during the year that ended April 2023, as Bloomberg reported this month. Theoretically, there's still time for Trump to address the economy to improve his party's prospects in the midterms, still more than five months away…. If Trump's ratings go up, so, too will the GOP's chances of preserving its roughly 10-seat House majority and defending its three-seat Senate advantage. Absent that, Democrats are poised to have quite a bit to celebrate on the evening of November 3."

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