Representative Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican, isn’t running for re-election this year. But he wishes that President Trump would spend more time promoting his economic record as his party wages an uphill fight to maintain control of Congress.
“He should be talking that for the first time in five years, we have wages climbing faster than inflation,” Mr. Bacon said of the president. “That should be in every speech. We have 4.3 percent G.D.P. growth. That should be in every speech. That’s a great number.”
Instead, most of Mr. Trump’s attention in recent months — and nearly all of his public message — has been on international affairs and divisive moves at home.
He has initiated military action in Venezuela, pushed aggressively to acquire Greenland, warned Iran against killing protesters, threatened retaliatory tariffs that could drive up prices in the United States and relentlessly bemoaned the fact that he was not awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. At the same time, he is leading an increasingly aggressive immigration crackdown that has in recent weeks led to the shooting of a 37-year-old woman by an ICE agent and the arrest of a preschooler in Minnesota.
It has all left voters who will determine the course of the final two years of his presidency believing that his attention has been misplaced, a grim dynamic for Republicans in Congress who must face re-election in November.
A New York Times/Siena poll conducted this month found that a large majority of Americans believe Mr. Trump has focused on the wrong priorities, as they point to their own economic worries. And while they back his immigration policies overall, a sizable majority also said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had gone too far with tactics that have sown chaos across the country.
The president will not be on the ballot this fall, but Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate who will be have a steep challenge: The survey gave Democrats a five-percentage-point edge over Republicans when it came to congressional candidates.
With anxiety about the coming election rising among Republicans on Capitol Hill, Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, made a point of telling members of the news media accompanying Mr. Trump on his trip to Davos, Switzerland, this week that he would soon begin making more trips around the United States to sell his domestic achievements. She said cabinet officials would also increase their visibility around the country.
Even the president himself conceded last week that he had failed to communicate effectively about his economic record.
“I’m not getting — maybe I have bad public relations people — but we’re not getting it across,” Mr. Trump told reporters this week during a rambling news conference celebrating the anniversary of the start of his second term. Later, he said: “I think we’ve done a much better job than we’re able to promote.”
Top Republicans concede privately that Mr. Trump’s emphasis on international affairs — along with the economic and social unrest prompted by his policies — are significant obstacles they will have to overcome in the coming months as they try to defy the historic trend of the president’s party losing seats in midterm elections.
Lawmakers facing tough races say they will need to steer around the president and run on their own records, leaning in to the economic bright spots that Mr. Trump has sometimes overshadowed with his unpredictable moves and extreme statements.
“I’m always running my own race and my voters will weigh in irrespective of who the president is,” said Representative Kevin Kiley, a California Republican whose current district was sliced up by Democrats working to counter a nationwide redistricting push by Mr. Trump, leaving him searching for a new political base.
“When it comes to affordability, we’ve seen progress with energy and gas prices,” Mr. Kiley said. “But that is not in any way to look past the real struggles that people are having and the fact that there’s still a lot more we need to do.”
He and other Republicans who are considered vulnerable say they understand that Mr. Trump has duties and responsibilities beyond looking out for the election prospects of Republicans on Capitol Hill, and that he is capable of educating voters on both the domestic and foreign policy accomplishments of his administration.
“The president’s time has to be spent on those things which, if not for the president, wouldn’t happen,” said Representative Darrell Issa, another California Republican whose re-election bid has been made more difficult by the new House map in the state. “When you look at the domestic agenda, is a speech in Minneapolis the most important thing or is striving to fix the problems that have cost the blood and treasure of America for generations?”
Republicans also say that they expect to reap a political benefit as Americans enter tax season and realize what Republicans predict will be significant savings from the extension of tax cuts that their party pushed through as part of last year’s sweeping domestic policy law.
“When people file their taxes, obviously they are going to see a large tax cut and that’s going to have a very positive impact on their situation and their outlook,” said Representative Mike Lawler, Republican of New York.
Whether voters will attribute any tax savings to Republicans remains to been seen. The Times poll found that Americans overall did not support the tax cuts, which disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Americans, and that a significant number of Republicans polled — 18 percent — had not even heard about them.
Republicans are well aware of the sales job they need to do to on the tax cuts and have stepped up efforts to drive the impact home with voters. Senator John Thune, the South Dakota Republican and majority leader, hits the topic regularly. He and a group of Senate Republican leaders and candidates traveled to Texas earlier this month to boast both of the tax policy and new border security.
Republican strategists say lawmakers will need to hone their own message and not rely on the president, who tends to go his own way despite the dangers posed to him by the loss of the House or Senate.
“Trump is going to do what Trump is going to do,” said John Feehery, a former senior Republican congressional communications aide. “Congressional Republicans have to be highly disciplined on their own messaging, taking credit for their joint accomplishments while attacking the Democrats for being loony. Trump’s ratings aren’t great, but they are much better than the Democrats’.”
Still, Democrats appear gleeful at the prospect of capitalizing on the disaffection with Mr. Trump and making the case that Republicans in Congress have put their loyalty to him above their concern for voters.
“This week, the Republican focus has been on Greenland, Jack Smith and Bill and Hillary Clinton,” Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the New York Democrat and minority leader, said on Thursday, referring to a politically charged hearing with Mr. Smith, the special prosecutor in a case against Mr. Trump related to the 2020 election, and possible contempt charges against the former first couple. “That’s their focus this week, not driving down the high cost of living for everyday Americans.”
A correction was made on Jan. 24, 2026: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the election year involved in a case against President Trump. It was 2020, not 2000.
Read the full article here
