In recent weeks, Donald Trump's "aggressive actions" on numerous fronts have created a stream of "emerging crises," according to an analysis from Bloomberg, creating a "frenetic" news environment that puts Republican lawmakers "at odds with their base" as the all-important midterms approach.
Amid a persistent stream of high-profile and contentious stories out of the White House — everything from the military incursion into Venezuela to the criminal probe of the Federal Reserve chair to the heated response to an ICE officer killing a woman in Minneapolis — Republicans are doing what they can to avoid the chaos as they struggle to build a durable, focused midterms message. As Bloomberg explained, this has involved "walking away quickly to avoid reporters, distributing carefully worded statements or expressing hope a new crisis passes soon."
The ICE shooting, in particular, has put a harsh spotlight on Trump's increasingly unpopular immigration enforcement agenda and forced more moderate Republicans in competitive districts to break with the White House, calling for a fair investigation rather than expressing unyielding support for ICE. This comes amid the White House's push for GOP members to "relinquish long-held positions" and take up Trump's stances on everything, a move that puts these lawmakers "at odds with their base and their own reelection campaigns."
Trump's controversial and "scatter-shot" political moves, Bloomberg argued, have also given an edge to Democrats and their focused message about affordability and economic issues, which voters have consistently rated as their top issue heading into 2026. The president's pursuits can often seem to voters to be completely opposed to anything that might bring costs down or grow wages, and the GOP's caucus of "free-market conservatives" has already been strongly opposed to many of the policy proposals floated to tackle the cost of living."
“Donald Trump needs to actually focus on making life better for American people,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said Monday. “I mean, spend a little time and actually try to lower the high cost of living.”
Elsewhere, reports abound about the coalition Trump built to win the 2024 election abandoning him and the GOP en masse. This trend is the clearest with young men, burnt by Trump's failure to deliver economic wins for the working class, and Latinos, who are turning away from the president as his deportation agenda has targeted their entire community, and not just criminals, as he promised.