U.S. President Donald Trump in the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 4, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
In GOP circles, President Donald Trump's defenders often give him credit for injecting a great deal of energy into the Republican Party. Trump, even with his weak approval ratings in many polls, still excites his hardcore MAGA base.
But with the 2026 midterms only six months way, White House lawyers are, according to early May reporting in The Washington Post and The New Republic, trying to prepare Trump and his administration for worst-case scenarios — including possible Democratic majorities in Congress in 2027.
The New Republic's Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling reports, "The White House is forecasting a rough November for congressional Republicans. In private briefings, attorneys at the White House Counsel's Office are preparing executive branch staff for a blue wave in the 2026 elections, The Washington Post reported Monday."
White House lawyers, according to Houghtaling, are giving Trump staffers "30-minute briefings" that include a "PowerPoint presentation detailing how congressional oversight works and best practices for handling it."
One official attending the briefings, the Post reported, described them as "a sober-eyed conversation."
Houghtaling notes that Trump is facing a wide range of problems ahead of the midterms.
"Trump, who was once a golden ticket for the Republican Party at the ballot box, has in his second term cooked up a litany of issues, any one of which could be a death knell for conservatives come November," Houghtaling explains. "In the 15 months since he returned to America's highest office, Trump has launched the U.S. into a war with Iran, sparking a global energy crisis that has raised the cost of living pretty much everywhere. He also invaded Venezuela and kidnapped its leader, Nicolás Maduro, axed thousands of staffers from the federal government and crippled some government agencies, and used his office to target his political opponents…… His lagging popularity has been reflected in nationwide polls: 62 percent of Americans disapprove of the president, according to an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll published Friday — a growth of two percentage points since the poll was previously conducted in February."