White House insiders frustrated as GOP fears Trump speech will make things even worse

This Thursday night, July 16, U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to a deliver a prime-time speech that will include, he says, "really big news" on election security. And with the 2026 midterms roughly three and one-half months away, many GOP insiders, according to Politico, fear that Trump's speech could make it harder for their party to keep their majorities in Congress.

Politico reporters Alex Gangitano, Megan Messerly and Myah Ward explain, "The president's speech, expected to be delivered in prime time Thursday from the White House, comes amid renewed hostilities with Iran, which are once again driving up fuel prices ahead of an election that most strategists still expect to turn on cost-of-living issues. But instead of touting the recent good news on declining inflation or hyping the new housing law, Trump plans to talk about 2020 and 'free and fair elections,' alarming some in the GOP who worry he will continue to make baseless claims or repeat debunked conspiracies."

A former Trump administration official, interviewed on condition of anonymity, hopes Trump will stick to the economy during his speech and not obsess over the 2020 presidential election.

The GOP source told Politico, "The people I talk to are scared s––. It's not scared s––about the text of what he's going to say, it's: what does he add to the text?.... From the White House, they would prefer to be talking about economic conditions improving. And any second of the day that's not spent talking about that right now, I'm sure, frustrates many in the administration."

GOP strategist and former Trump adviser Steve Cortes, known for his clashes with Never Trump conservative Ana Navarro on CNN, told Politico that "for the persuadable voters, the non-MAGA people, talking about an election from six years ago sounds like sour grapes."

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) told Politico, "The only thing I can tell you is we are focused on the 2026 election — at least I am and I think most of my colleagues are."

But MAGA Republican Steve Bannon, host of the "War Room" vodcast and former White House chief strategist in the first Trump administration, is hoping that Trump will talk about the 2020 election.

Bannon told Politico, "The election integrity revelations coming on Thursday and thereafter will be the exact tonic the MAGA grassroots base need to fire them up — to remind them of what they are really fighting for in these crucial November elections."