Sources within the Trump White House are furious over GOP Sen. Josh Hawley's new anti-abortion political spending operation, according to a new report from Axios, suggesting that the Missouri lawmaker "learned nothing" from the results of the 2022 midterm elections and calling the move "asinine stupidity."
On Friday, Hawley and his wife, Erin Hawley, announced the formation of Love Live Initiative, a dark money group aimed at making political contributions to anti-abortion causes. The plan, so far, calls for spending on national TV ads and working to put a greater spotlight on anti-abortion ballot measures.
"We think that there needs to be a voice, strong voice, advocating for life, and not just in the narrow political sense, but also advocating culturally," Hawley told Axios last week.
On Monday, Axios published a follow-up report in which anonymous top advisers close to President Donald Trump expressed major frustration over Hawley's new group, criticizing the senator for not giving the White House a heads-up and for resurrecting an issue that could further harm the GOP heading into the 2026 midterms.
"Clearly, Senator Hawley and his political team learned nothing from the 2022 elections, when the SCOTUS abortion ruling [overturning Roe v. Wade] resuscitated the Democrats in the midterms," a top Trump adviser told the outlet.
Despite midterm races generally going poorly for the party in charge of the White House, the 2022 races bucked the historical trend considerably, with Democrats losing the House to the GOP by only a slim margin and actually gaining a seat in the Senate. This overperformance has largely been credited to voter outrage over the conservative Supreme Court majority overturning Roe v. Wade earlier in the year, prompting a renewed wave of anti-abortion laws in red states.
Since then, Republicans have largely backed off from anti-abortion messaging, viewing it as a losing issue for the party. The White House insiders speaking to Axios said that the GOP should be exclusively focused on economic issues for the 2026 races, and did not mince words about Hawley's decision to dig back into anti-abortion causes.
"[The economy] alone will be the driving force behind the next election," the adviser said. "Picking a fight on an issue like abortion in a midterm is the height of asinine stupidity."
White House sources also suggested to Axios that Hawley's new group is part of a broader plan to position himself as a candidate for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination, against presumed frontrunner, Vice President JD Vance.
