Conservatives peel back the curtain on why Trump wants to lose the midterms

With the midterms looming, President Donald Trump continues to take unpopular actions that make it increasingly likely his party will lose its congressional majority. Now some conservatives warn that Trump may be purposely pushing the GOP toward defeat.

The issue was raised on Tuesday by National Review senior political correspondent Jim Geraghty, for example, who cited a new article by Frank Miele of the outlet RealClearPolitics. As Geraghty posted, “Miele speculates that on some level, Trump might want a Democratic enemy to denounce and blame for the final two years of his presidency. ‘If they actually regain control of Congress, the threat of their socialist policies will loom large. Trump can reclaim his mantle as the protector of American ideals and traditions, and use his veto pen as a mighty sword to hold off Democrats’ attempts to dismantle the Electoral College and radically alter the Supreme Court.’ If you prefer to have scapegoats to blame and enemies to rail against, rather than allies in the legislature to enact laws, you are, as I contended last month, semi-retired from the presidency.”

Miele’s piece argues that Republicans have good reason for concern, noting, “With midterms just 57 days away, Trump is almost 17 points underwater in the RealClearPolitics Average; Republican Senate candidates are at risk of losing what should be safe seats in Texas, Iowa, and Ohio; and MAGA Inc. – the Trump-supporting super PAC – is sitting on over $400 million that could make all the difference. It’s enough to make you ask a simple question: Does President Trump really want Republicans to win the midterms and keep control of the House and Senate?”

He says that Trump’s behavior has changed markedly since a year ago, when he demanded the Republican redistricting effort. “But that was then,” writes Miele. “What has Trump done lately? Back in April, Axios reported that Trump’s operation planned to start unloading its enormous war chest around Memorial Day. That apparently didn’t happen on anything like the promised scale. Now it’s Labor Day, and it still hasn’t happened.” In this context, says Miele, “it’s time to consider the very real possibility that President Trump doesn’t think it is in his best interest to preserve the narrow Republican majority in the House, and the slightly wider majority in the Senate.”

“He needs a villain,” Miele argues. “And until communists start running under their own name, the Democrats will have to do. If, instead, Republicans retain their narrow lead in the House and Senate, the president will be stuck with two more years of bellyaching about how his own party can’t get anything done. Not a good look for legacy builders. And in at least one regard, Trump may be right. Experience has taught us that this New York brawler is often politically more comfortable with enemies than with allies.” While Trump can just belittle a Chuck Schumer, “Republican congressional majorities are much more inconvenient. When Republicans control the White House, House, and Senate, Trump owns Washington. There is nobody else to blame when Congress doesn’t enact his program.” What’s more, with the Democrats in power, “every subpoena, investigation, and impeachment threat becomes political oxygen for Trump. He gets to be persecuted again. That is terrain on which he thrives.”

With all this in mind, asserts Miele, “There may be a disconnect between what Trump wants and what is good for Republicans overall … He is still urging Republicans to run on their record, on his record, and that has to be scary. After all, Democrats are running on Trump’s record too – reminding voters just how little they like it.” With this, Miele ends with a plea for Trump to protect the Republican majority and "save us from yet another impeachment."