(CNN) — President Donald Trump has never taken kindly to losing elections. He’s often tried to explain it away by citing bogus claims of mass voter fraud.
But ahead of the 2026 midterm election, he appears to be lining up another culprit and scapegoat: his fellow Republicans.
Repeatedly in recent weeks, Trump has suggested that if congressional Republicans lose big in November, they will have themselves to blame — and certainly not him.
This is ridiculous, of course. Trump is historically unpopular and appears to have alienated many voters even in his own party in ways that clearly harm the GOP’s midterm hopes. Congressional Republicans could certainly have insulated themselves better from Trump’s problems and stood up more to his excesses, but he would clearly shoulder the lion’s share of the blame.
Regardless, though, Trump blaming the GOP for its own losses — if they do indeed lose control of either chamber — would set up a very interesting intraparty clash at a particularly sensitive time. It would come as it’s licking its wounds from a bad election and perhaps considering a new path forward from the Trump era.
The president turned heads Wednesday by re-sharing a month-old post from a loyal supporter who warned that Republicans were “sleepwalking toward a midterm reckoning they don’t see coming.”
The post laid the blame squarely at Republicans’ feet for failing to deliver legislation to support Trump’s agenda.
“If Republicans in Congress don’t start producing tangible results, they’re going to discover that frustration has consequences,” the supporter, Matt Van Swol, wrote in the original post that Trump re-shared.
Trump followed that up with another post laying out a lengthy list of his own supposed accomplishments. He later posted an image declaring “mission accomplished” in the Iran war.
It wasn’t difficult to get Trump’s implication: I did all of this, and my party hasn’t done enough to help me.
When asked Thursday whether Trump was washing his hands of congressional Republicans, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded: “The president is wholeheartedly committed to helping Republicans across the board retain the majority.”
But Trump said those Republicans would be to blame much more explicitly — and in his own words — earlier this month.
In an interview with Punchbowl News, he went so far as to claim (falsely) that people were only angry at other Republicans.
“The question is, will (people) vote? Because a lot of them are very angry at Republicans, to be honest with you,” Trump said. He added: “They’re angry at Republicans, but they’re not angry at me.”
(In fact, 63% of Americans disapprove of Trump in the CNN Poll of Polls. And fewer than 1 in 5 Americans “strongly” approve of him in most quality polls.)
Trump also seemed to set the table for this argument earlier in the summer, when he implored Senate Republicans to nix the filibuster and pass his elections bill, the “Save America Act.”
He repeatedly claimed that passing the legislation would mean Democrats couldn’t win elections anymore, and that failing to do so could cost the GOP dearly.
“We can only lose the midterms if we allow ourselves to lose the midterms – if we are foolish, stupid, and unwise,” he said at Mount Rushmore on July 3.
Later that month, he said, “If they don’t get it done, it’s going to be a very bad thing for the party.”
And he added on July 29 while talking about the midterms, “If we don’t (have unanimous GOP support), people should look at those Republicans.”
Trump also repeatedly in July targeted Senate Majority Leader John Thune in ways that suggested he could be lining him up as a scapegoat for failing to nix the filibuster.
“Remember, stupidity always brings LOSING & DEATH!” he said in one missive on social media.
Trump has also taken in recent days to telling voters to “pretend” he’s on the ballot this fall and to vote accordingly. He’s also aimed to make the midterms about him, including via his Trump-focused midterm convention next month that has Republicans fretting and, according to the Atlantic, heavily featuring himself in ads from his super PAC.
That points to a very real problem for the GOP, which is that the Trump coalition doesn’t show up as much when he isn’t personally on the ballot. And with the president’s approval ratings so low, Republicans acknowledge there’s little room to win over swing voters — their best bet, sources have told CNN, is to turn out the MAGA faithful.
But the president has also set this up as being about how voters love him but not other Republicans.
And it’s not difficult to see him reaching for that message if the November election turns out poorly for the GOP.
If that happens, the narrative will quickly turn to how much of a lame-duck president Trump is with two years left — especially if Republicans manage to lose both chambers of Congress. At that point, he’ll need a retort for why he’s not irreparably politically wounded and why this wasn’t a huge vote of no confidence in his presidency.
But if he does blame his party, it could rock the GOP at an inopportune time. Imagine Republicans licking their wounds from a bad election and having Trump piling on top of that by pushing 100% of the blame on the party’s shoulders.
Perhaps Republicans would just take it — like they shrug off so many of Trump’s other provocations. But it might be difficult for some of them to swallow after Trump caused them so many problems. And some might even reason this is a chance to turn the page on a term-limited president.
If it comes to that, Republicans might prefer that Trump keep lying about voter fraud instead.
The-CNN-Wire
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