GOP Midterm Strategy Frays as Aides Trade Blame

MAGA Inc. has spent $200 million on campaigns so far, and President Donald Trump wants to know why Republican poll numbers haven’t moved. His question has triggered finger-pointing inside his political operation, just 17 days before the November 3 election.

Three people familiar with internal discussions described a faltering Republican midterm strategy. Trump has faulted senior aides and political operatives as the party fights to keep control of Congress. He has questioned campaign spending, redistricting and candidate choices, while telling supporters to act as if he were on the ballot himself. His schedule has been frenetic. Friday brought a stop in battleground Georgia, where he attacked Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff. Saturday, he was set to travel to Kentucky.

A Circular Firing Squad

Much of the friction centers on James Blair, the longtime aide who runs Trump’s super PAC, and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. Trump has faulted Blair’s handling of campaign funds. Some White House officials and allies have questioned Wiles’ oversight of the political operation. As Trump asks why the money hasn’t improved the numbers, advisers are blaming one another: Wiles has pointed to Blair, and Blair has faulted the White House legislative affairs team, one person said. “What’s really happening is a circular firing squad,” that person said.

One source said it remained unclear whether Trump would approve more spending before the election.

The tension went public after Blair and Chris LaCivita, who co-managed Trump’s 2024 campaign, traveled in early October to Republika Srpska, a self-governing region of Bosnia. The New York Times reported that the men received substantial payments to advise the regional government ahead of local elections. Trump called them “outside consultants” in an October 7 Truth Social post and warned he would “terminate them, immediately!” if he found a conflict of interest. Three people said senior White House officials questioned why Blair was taking lucrative overseas work while he was supposed to oversee the campaign’s final stretch. One person said Wiles approved the trip without informing Trump.

Blair called the criticism “ridiculous, and counterproductive.” LaCivita dismissed it as “sniping from unnamed cowards who’ve never been in a fight.” Trump had described Blair’s departure as a “short leave of absence,” but two sources said his return now seemed unlikely. “He’s not coming back. That is not happening,” one said. Trump defended Wiles on Friday, calling her “smart” and “tough” and saying, “Susie is here, and she’s going to be here for a long time.” White House spokesman Davis Ingle rejected the sources’ accounts as “baseless speculation.”

Redistricting Doubts in Texas

Two sources said Trump pressed aides in the past week to explain why the redistricting effort he personally pushed hadn’t produced clearer gains. Texas is a particular worry. Republicans redrew the state’s map to pick up seats, partly counting on Hispanic voters to turn out as they did in 2024. Polls suggest that support may be hard to repeat amid cost-of-living concerns and dissatisfaction with Trump’s handling of the economy. Some Republicans fear the new lines could leave incumbents more exposed. “The redistricting diced up the Trump voters too much,” one source said.

NBC News reported that Texas Republicans have grown wary of one another. Gov. Greg Abbott and Senate candidate Ken Paxton have rarely appeared together this fall, and they don’t plan to campaign together in the closing weeks.

The Economic Headwind

Trump’s approval rating sits at the lowest point of his presidency, weighed down by voter concern over high prices and dissatisfaction with the Iran war. Polls show most Americans unhappy with the economy and frustrated with inflation, and a majority blame the administration’s policies. Trump gave his administration an “A+” on the economy.

Vice President JD Vance took a more measured tone. At a Michigan town hall, he answered a woman whose small business was struggling: “just as this country wasn’t broken in one presidential term, it’s gonna take more than 18 months to fix things and turn them around.” He told CBS News the president was pointing to “massive new investments” coming into the country. “You gotta build the factories first, before you can employ the workers working in those factories,” Vance said.

Democrats Press the Advantage

Polls suggest Democrats will win the House, while the Senate remains too close to call. Democratic surrogates, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, are campaigning in red and purple states. In Michigan, Ocasio-Cortez gave $1 million to help Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, and a source said Sanders transferred $250,000. Republican Senate candidates in Kansas and South Carolina, meanwhile, reported what CNN called shockingly small fundraising numbers. In Georgia, Rep. Mike Collins, who is trying to unseat Ossoff, faces an uphill battle and a substantial financial disadvantage.

Pennsylvania may tell the story. Trump won the state in 2024, Republicans ousted an entrenched Democratic senator, and it was the only state where Republicans flipped two House seats. The New York Times reported that his support there has since crumbled, with Democrats targeting four House districts that together could deliver a congressional majority. Democratic strategist Jesse Ferguson said the state “runs the whole gamut of the midterms in four races.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson said he believes Republicans will keep their House majority despite a late surge of Democratic momentum.

Why This Matters:

The stakes go beyond who sits in which chair. A Democratic House would hamper Trump’s legislative agenda for the final two years of his term and give Democrats subpoena power over his administration. That means divided government, gridlock on spending and policy, and a long run of investigations. For taxpayers and businesses, the fight over $200 million in campaign money matters less than the prospect of stalled legislation. Voters are telling pollsters the economy and prices are the problem, and Vance’s own words concede the fix takes time. From a center-right view, the lesson is plain: campaigns can’t spend their way past kitchen-table frustration, and a party that wants to hold power has to deliver visible results on the cost of living.