Trump keeps acting like he wants the GOP to implode in the midterms

President Donald Trump gestures during a working session at the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, June 16, 2026. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann

Republicans are desperate to notch some wins with voters ahead of the midterms, but as Slate argued in a new piece, President Donald Trump keeps sinking those wins as he continues to act as if he wants his own party to lose.

Writing for the outlet this weekend, senior politics writer Jim Newell suggested that there might have been room for Republicans to gain some much-needed ground in two vital swing state Senate races. In Maine, incumbent GOP Sen. Susan Collins is facing off against Democrat Troy Jackson, though he only entered the race after the previous nominee dropped out due to sexual assault allegations. In Michigan, GOP nominee Mike Rogers is facing an uphill battle against Democratic Abdul El-Sayed, though the latter's campaign has become a lightning rod for intra-party squabbling over progressive vs. moderate candidates.

Those should have been decent circumstances for Republicans to regain some momentum as the Senate majority hangs in the balance, but as Newell detailed, Trump crashed the party as he reignited his widely criticized trade war with Canada, imposing new tariffs on America's closest trading partner, and one with particularly close economic ties to Maine and Michigan.

"Talks with Canada on a trade agreement have broken down, which means the trade war is back on," Newell wrote. "Trump has announced new tariffs on billions of dollars of Canadian goods, and Canada has responded in kind. The breakdown features the usual Trumpian accoutrements: a personal spat with Ontario Premier Doug Ford, whom Trump has compared unfavorably to the Canadian politician’s late brother, and whose trash talk has prompted Trump to pretend to rename Lake Ontario to 'Lake America.' Each day we live through this era, we get vastly dumber."

He added: "As dumb as it all is, the consequences are quite real economically—and politically, for Trump’s own (theoretical) team. It’s not just that this latest trade war will raise costs at a time when 'high costs' are the biggest political issue in the country. It’s going to raise costs particularly in states that are either bordering or in close proximity to Canada and rely on trade with it. States like, we don’t know, Michigan, Maine, Ohio, New Hampshire, and Alaska. Anything going on in those states in November? Any Senate races, by chance?"

Seeing the potential for economic disaster in her state and political disaster for her reelection campaign, Collins has since called on Trump to continue negotiating with Canada, calling them "our best friend." Rogers, meanwhile, is expected to face intense attacks over the situation from El-Sayed, given his past support for Trump's tariff agenda.

Amid all of that chaos and uncertainty, Newell wondered just who Trump actually "wants to win" in the midterms.

"In Maine and Michigan especially, this has to be mortifying to Republicans," he explained. "Republican candidates Susan Collins and Mike Rogers have better-than-expected opportunities to win, given the tumult Democrats went through in selecting their nominees. Now Trump has gone out of his way to make their lives much more challenging. Sometimes (regularly), we’re genuinely unsure whom the president wants to win this fall."

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