Senate Republicans are panicking, according to a new report from NOTUS, as President Donald Trump leaves them grappling with "one big, beautiful problem," making it increasingly more difficult for the party to sell its own new tax laws to voters ahead of the crucial 2026 midterms.
On Monday, NOTUS reported that Republicans, facing the prospect of a nightmarish wipeout from Democrats in November, are struggling "to streamline messaging about the party’s tax cut law and overcome President Donald Trump’s international spats, which are casting a long shadow and doing little favor to the extended sales pitch."
Trump's presidency continues to tank, with voters sending his approval rating into freefall as he ignores the economic worries that he was reelected to address and continues to engage in international conflicts he promised to avoid. Little legislation of note has been passed by the GOP-led Congress, leaving the party stuck trying to spin the unpopular "One Big Beautiful Bill" into a win for all taxpayers, instead of just the wealthy.
To that end, they have tried to rebrand the contentious mega-bill as the "Working Families Tax Cut," though there is little indication that it has paid any dividends yet. Some GOP sources expressed frustration to NOTUS over Trump continuing to use the original name of the bill.
"Even amid a worsening political environment, Republicans have hung their hats on their hopes of being able to sell what they consider to be popular items of last year’s tax cut package to voters," NOTUS explained. "Those hopes, however, are running headfirst into reality as the midterm elections wind closer and they struggle to break through an avalanche of news, much of it headlined by the Iran war."
“It’s something that we want to be focused on. Unfortunately... world events have kind of taken over on it,” Sen. Mike Rounds, a South Dakota Republican, told the outlet.
Amid that struggle, lawmakers are agonizing as Trump, their "top messenger," continues to fail them.
"What’s giving Republicans real agita though is that their top messenger is doing them few favors," NOTUS explained. "That came to a head last week around Tax Day, which Republicans have long cited as a key moment when families and individuals would see the impact of the law in their returns and refunds."
The report continued: "The president held multiple events around the tax deadline, including one where a DoorDash delivery person, Sharon Simmons of Arkansas, appeared at the White House for a staged photo-op to deliver McDonald’s to the Oval Office. After talking about the 'no tax on tips' provision for about 90 seconds with the delivery woman, Trump held an impromptu news conference — during which he escalated his feud with Pope Leo XIV and defended his social media post critics say likened himself to Jesus Christ. At one point, Trump also asked the DoorDash worker if she thought transgender women should take part in women’s sports."
"It’s very concerning,” an anonymous GOP senator told NOTUS. “My God, look at the polling numbers. We have got to be pitch perfect to protect our incumbents, and we’re not even singing in the same tongue right now, let alone having people singing from the same hymn books.”