The Washington Post reports President Donald Trump’s focus on running Venezuela from afar is dashing Republicans' chances in the upcoming midterm elections, as it's causing him to pivot away from lowering the cost of living.
“It’s death by a thousand cuts,” said Republican pollster Brent Buchanan, president and founder of political polling firm Cygnal. “You do these big wins on affordability, and then they’re covered up by an ICE raid or a presidential capture operation.”
Voters have repeatedly told pollsters they want Congress and the administration to focus on bread-and-butter issues, but Trump's commitment of American tax dollars toward foreign military campaigns risks exploding the national debt and raising Americans' costs, per the Post.
“The president’s first major act in the new year was a military operation in Venezuela that led to Trump on Jan. 3 saying that the United States will 'run' the South American country indefinitely,” reports the Post. “In the following days, Trump issued threats of military action in Iran and Colombia, hinted at U.S. intervention in Mexico and renewed his interest in taking ownership of Greenland.”
Trump is making clear that he has no plans to back down from a “growing list of foreign entanglements,” wrote the Post, and failing to sell the message that he is “delivering on promises to make life more affordable.”
“Mindful of the looming midterm elections, White House officials, including Vice President JD Vance, have sought to cast the Venezuela mission as one that will ultimately improve U.S. security and domestic quality of life, arguing that the capture of President Nicolás Maduro will stem the flow of illegal drugs and Venezuelan criminals from entering the United States,” said the Post. Indeed, many White House officials are trying to sell the argument to voters that Trump will deliver economic relief later in 2026, as policies mature. Veteran Republican strategist Dave Carney, who ran a pro-Trump super PAC during the 2024 election, claimed that projecting strength is a good argument in the meantime.
“What are you going to say for the next six months? ‘It’s coming, it’s coming?’ Or you talk about doing things that also help the country,” Carney told the Post.
Still, , 72, a retired Trump voter Don Scoma, of Florida, said he’s not sure if the president can deliver everything he’s promising.
“I think he’s trying to do too many things at once, therefore his focus is fragmented to an extent,” said Scoma. “He’s trying to do things in the Middle East. He has Ukraine. He’s dealing with Russia. He’s dealing with Europe. He just invaded a South American country.”
Read the Washington Post report at this link.
