{"id":2848,"date":"2026-10-17T16:03:48","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T11:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2848"},"modified":"2026-10-17T16:03:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T11:03:48","slug":"trump-faults-aides-as-republican-midterm-prospects-dim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2848","title":{"rendered":"Trump faults aides as Republican midterm prospects dim"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

President Donald Trump is blaming senior aides and political operatives for a faltering midterm strategy<\/a>, questioning campaign spending, faulting redistricting and second-guessing candidate choices as Republicans fight to retain control of Congress, said three people familiar with internal discussions.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump is not on the November 3 ballot but repeatedly tells supporters \u200bto pretend that he is, hoping to mobilise voters who might otherwise skip the election.<\/p>\n

He has embarked on a frenetic campaign schedule while largely avoiding acknowledging his own role in shaping \u200cthe strategy and how his unpopularity is weighing on Republican candidates in competitive races.<\/p>\n

Much of the friction has centered on James Blair, the longtime aide who runs Trump\u2019s super PAC MAGA Inc., and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who until now had largely escaped criticism.<\/p>\n

Trump has faulted Blair\u2019s handling of campaign funds, while some White House officials and allies have questioned Wiles\u2019 oversight of the political operation.<\/p>\n

As Trump questions why campaign spending has failed to improve Republican polling numbers, his advisers are also blaming one another.<\/p>\n

Wiles has pointed to Blair, \u200bwhile Blair has faulted the White House legislative affairs team, one of the people said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s really happening is a circular firing squad,\u201d the person said.<\/p>\n

Opinion polls suggest Democrats will win the House of Representatives, while the \u200bSenate remains too close to call.<\/p>\n

Losing the House would hamper Trump\u2019s legislative agenda in the final two years of his term and give Democrats subpoena power to investigate \u2060his administration.<\/p>\n

Trump defended Wiles on Friday, calling her \u201csmart\u201d and \u201ctough\u201d and saying she would remain in her job. \u201cSusie is here, and she\u2019s going to be here for a long time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

White House spokesman Davis Ingle rejected the sources\u2019 characterization, \u200bsaying they were \u201carmchair experts peddling their baseless speculation.\u201d Wiles did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Trump has long distanced himself from political setbacks<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Trump has long sought to distance himself from political setbacks. He refused to accept his defeat in the \u200b2020 election and said ahead of the 2022 midterm results that he deserved \u201call the credit\u201d if Republicans won but \u201cshould not be blamed at all\u201d if they lost. More recently, he has reminded audiences that the president\u2019s party typically struggles in midterm elections.<\/p>\n

But Trump helped devise and drive some of the strategies he is now questioning, including the redistricting effort and candidate choices shaped by his personal loyalties or grievances.<\/p>\n

His approval rating is at the lowest point of his presidency, weighed down by voter concern over high prices and dissatisfaction with the \u200bIran war.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s frustrations with his political team spilt into public view after Blair and Chris LaCivita, who co-managed Trump\u2019s 2024 campaign, travelled in early October to Republika Srpska, a self-governing region of Bosnia.<\/p>\n

The New York Times reported the \u200bmen received substantial payments to advise the regional government ahead of local elections.<\/p>\n

Trump distanced himself from both men, describing them as \u201coutside consultants\u201d in an October 7 Truth Social post and warning that if he found a conflict of interest, he would \u201cterminate them, immediately!\u201d<\/p>\n

Senior White \u200cHouse officials questioned \u2060why Blair was taking on lucrative work overseas when he was supposed to be overseeing the final stretch of the Republican campaign, three people said.<\/p>\n

One person said Wiles approved the trip without informing Trump, raising questions about how closely she was overseeing his political advisers.<\/p>\n

For Trump, the larger concern is that Blair\u2019s outside work has distracted him from his political responsibilities, two people said.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Blair said: \u201cAll of this mudslinging is ridiculous and counterproductive. President Trump and I are focused on helping Republicans win in November. Every other Republican should be doing the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a separate statement, LaCivita said: \u201cPresident Trump and his team are and always have been focused on the midterms.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s demonstrated through the money, message and motivation that \u200bthe president is bringing on the road and all year. \u200bSniping from unnamed cowards who\u2019ve never been in a \u2060fight is not worth responding to.\u201c<\/p>\n

<\/a>$200 million and redistricting<\/strong><\/h3>\n

With Trump asking why Republican polling in pivotal races has not improved despite MAGA Inc.\u2019s campaign spending, which public records put at $200 million so far, it remains unclear whether he will approve more spending before the election, one of the sources said.<\/p>\n

Trump also has pressed political aides and advisers in the past \u200bweek to explain why the redistricting effort he personally pushed has failed to deliver more clear-cut Republican gains, two sources said.<\/p>\n

Texas is a particular concern. Republicans redrew the \u200bstate\u2019s congressional map to gain seats, \u2060but the strategy relies in part on Hispanic voters turning out as they did for the 2024 election.<\/p>\n

Opinion polls suggest that support may be difficult to replicate amid concerns about the cost of living and Trump\u2019s handling of the economy.<\/p>\n

Some Republicans fear the new boundaries could backfire, leaving incumbents more vulnerable instead of giving the party an advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe redistricting diced up the Trump voters too much,\u201d one of the sources said.<\/p>\n

Trump had said Blair was expected to return to the White House after \u2060the midterms, describing \u200bhis departure as a \u201cshort leave of absence.\u201d But two sources said his return was now unlikely. \u201cHe\u2019s not coming back. That is not happening,\u201d one \u200bof them said.<\/p>\n

It was less clear how things would play out for Wiles, who played a central role in Trump\u2019s 2024 victory and has been credited by Trump allies and aides with bringing greater discipline to his White House in his second term.<\/p>\n

Trump \u201cmay be annoyed at certain things but \u200bshe has effectively kept that machine going,\u201d a fourth source close to the White House said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump is blaming senior aides and political operatives for a faltering midterm strategy, questioning campaign spending, faulting redistricting and second-guessing candidate choices as Republicans fight to retain control of Congress, said three people familiar with internal discussions. Trump is not on the November 3 ballot but repeatedly tells supporters \u200bto pretend that he is, hoping to mobilise voters who might otherwise skip the election. He has embarked on a frenetic campaign schedule while largely avoiding acknowledging his own role in shaping \u200cthe strategy and how his unpopularity is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2848\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}