#gop-strategy

#gop-strategy

President Trump could change his mind, of course, but it makes some sense from his point of view. He knows preserving Republicans' governing trifecta is going to be an uphill climb in 2026, given the historical pattern of the White House party almost always losing House seats in the midterms. His iron control of the GOP means it won't be hard to impose discipline on hand-picked delegates to an event like this, essentially making it a big paid ad for the party and its messages.

It's too much fun for him not to bait them, and he's doing it very effectively,

A conservative group aligned with congressional GOP leadership has been distributing polling data to Hill Republicans that shows 25% of voters view inflation as the most important issue facing the country. That's more than double the percentage of the second-ranked concern - government corruption - according to the polling by the GOP firm GrayHouse. Senate Republicans also are being confronted with polling that indicates voters see the party as not focused enough on rising costs and the prospect of shortages of items such as drugs, groceries and toys. Party operatives have conducted focus groups in which voters express support for Trump's moves on foreign policy but want more efforts to counter inflation.