Trump’s ‘for you’ presidency became all about himself. It’s hurting the GOP

Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

The ad that defined the 2024 election said “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.”

Two years on, it’s mostly about him.

The scathing jab at the Democratic nominee did not just attack her positions on transgender issues. It positioned her opponent as the only one listening to Americans’ pleas for help with high food and housing prices.

But a return to the gold-draped Oval Office and a personal construction spree immortalizing his legacy seem to have distracted President Donald Trump from such concerns — which in some ways have gotten worse as a result of his policies.

And Trump’s accelerated campaign swing , so far stopping in Texas, Ohio, Alabama and Nebraska — ostensibly meant to help GOP midterm election candidates — is featuring undisciplined and self-referential appearances that trigger political firestorms but produce few answers to the critical question of the election.

In recent days, Trump trampled his party’s campaign message by igniting a furor over whether he’d suggested Iran could “take out” San Diego or Los Angeles. Democrats’ responses did not accurately reflect the context. But his intemperance gave them a chance to dominate the narrative on one of the declining days before the election.

Trump is also bitterly complaining that Fox News isn’t being fair. He launched another controversy by using taxpayer cash for campaign-style ads ; used an anti-transgender slur against a Democratic candidate in South Carolina; and told a weekend crowd in Ohio the GOP would shove an election win up the rival party’s “ass.”

Touting a shipbuilding project Tuesday in Maryland, he bafflingly extemporized about rechristening the “fake media” the “artificial” media after freeing up the word by dubbing artificial intelligence “super intelligence.”

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Trump has never stuck to the script. In fact, his verbal improvisations have often been a political strength. Yet the off-the-cuff riffs and taunts that once marked him as the ultimate outsider eviscerating the political system now risk becoming a liability as voters blame him for high prices, a Middle East quagmire and their thwarted hopes.

And in a midterm election turning on the unpopularity of his presidency and apparent denial over the haves-and-have-nots economy, his intensifying campaign blitz — mostly so far in red states — seems to lack a strategy. There’s also no evidence it’s having the intended impact, though he claimed on Truth Social on Tuesday that he was “flipping races all over the place.”

Four weeks from an election in which Democrats only need a handful of seats to win back the House, and as a close battle for the Senate goes down to the wire, Trump is being as good as his word to make the campaign about him . And he may be letting Democrats — who still lack voters’ trust, polls show — off the hook.

He’s siding with tech billionaires in telling Americans they must embrace AI data centers , which many voters loathe for their vast footprint on the landscape and for guzzling electricity and water . During a trip to boost Republicans in Nebraska on Monday, he seemed unsympathetic to ranchers angry at his move to pause tariffs on tens of thousands of tons of foreign beef to bring national prices down, saying they’d be in “big trouble if Democrats win.” In Baltimore on Tuesday, he boasted about stocks that keep hitting record highs — benefiting the richest Americans most. And he told families who dread every visit to a gas station that it’s a “small price to pay” to keep Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon — though he’d claimed to have obliterated Tehran’s nuclear capacity before launching the war.

When the president does have good news to tout, such as the $5 billion infrastructure investment by South Korea’s Hanwha Group in Philadelphia, he styles it as a personal triumph rather than embroidering a narrative about how such successes can create an economy that helps working Americans. His scattershot method rarely shows off achievements like higher-than-expected tax refunds and initiatives to cut the cost of medicine and housing in their best light.

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Incumbent presidents always face a balancing act in midterms, especially when voters blame them for economic conditions. But rather than explaining the reality and offering ways to improve it, the president often conjures a fresh one.

“This is the golden age of America,” he said Tuesday. “We’re doing numbers that nobody ever thought were possible.” This doesn’t only ignore polls like one released Sunday by CBS/YouGov that found 70% of voters think his policies are hiking grocery prices. It’s a gift for Democrats when gasoline averages $4.36 a gallon, diesel is around $6.30 a gallon and mortgage rates just topped 7%.

“The president is showing, which is not unusual, that he is living in a bubble,” Michigan Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell told CNN’s Audie Cornish on Monday, specifically referring to AI data centers but exemplifying Trump’s wider issues.

Whether he’s foisting weak candidates on Republicans in states such as Texas and Georgia or insisting that his party elevate a president with an approval rating in the 30s , Trump’s entire approach to the midterms seems unwise.

“I’m asking you to pretend that I’m on the ballot,” the president pleaded with voters at his rally in Alabama last week, delighting Democratic strategists.

But could there be some method in his maelstrom?

Trump would probably be wasting his time by wooing moderate and independent voters as polls show them drifting away. In swing Senate races in places like Maine, Michigan and Georgia, he might do the GOP more harm than good.

If polls can be believed that there are tight contests in states — such as Ohio and Iowa — that Trump won by double digits two years ago, reviving that almost mystical connection with the base might offer his party the only viable form of triage.

“Democrats have placed President Trump on the ballot,” Pennsylvania Rep. Ryan Mackenzie told CNN’s Manu Raju on Tuesday. “What we need, and what I think the president is saying … is that we need Republicans to see that he is going to be on the ballot in the sense that his policies and his agenda are going to be on the ballot.”

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During the 2016 campaign, the chaos was not a turnoff but an asset. Trump’s untamed nature, insults and absurd digressions eviscerated mores his supporters hated. Everyone in politics thought he’d destroyed his own campaign by denigrating the Vietnam War heroism of Sen. John McCain . But the episode showed instead that Trump was ahead of the curve, and political and media elites hadn’t realized he’d changed the game.

Back then, Trump would scour his crowds to test reactions to his most outrageous lines. The rallies often felt like a night at a party when someone was saying stuff many people agreed with but wouldn’t dare blurt out. When Trump goes off on a rant now, he may be trying to recapture that magic.

But circumstances have changed a decade later. Trump isn’t the outsider now; he is the establishment figure waging a poorly explained war and driving up prices, despite his attempts to show he’s not relinquished his rebel spirit.

His political longevity is extraordinary. But the gap between Trump’s “golden age” and the lived reality of many of his supporters is described by high housing and grocery prices. His base also appears to be narrowing, as CNN’s Aaron Blake noted Tuesday, citing New York Times/Siena College polls showing between 9% and 16% of Republican voters saying they favored the Democratic nominee in key states Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio and Texas.

Polls can change in the final days, and on November 3, they won’t matter. That’s when voters will answer the question defining Trump’s 2026 campaign.

Was it all about them?

朱莉娅·德马雷·尼金森/美联社

那则定义了2024年大选的广告说：“卡玛拉代表他们/她们。特朗普总统代表你们。”

两年过去了，现在主要还是关于他。

对民主党候选人的猛烈抨击不仅仅针对她在跨性别问题上的立场，更将她的对手塑造成唯一一个倾听美国民众呼吁、帮助解决高昂食品和住房价格问题的人。

但重返金碧辉煌的椭圆形办公室，以及为了彰显个人功绩而展开的大规模建设，似乎分散了唐纳德·特朗普总统对这些问题的注意力——而这些问题在某些方面由于他的政策而变得更加严重。

特朗普加快了竞选步伐，迄今为止已在德克萨斯州、俄亥俄州、阿拉巴马州和内布拉斯加州停留——表面上是为了帮助共和党中期选举候选人——但他的露面缺乏纪律且自说自话，引发了政治风暴，但对选举的关键问题却鲜有解答。

近日，特朗普因暗示伊朗可能“摧毁”圣地亚哥或洛杉矶而引发轩然大波，严重损害了民主党的竞选策略。民主党的回应未能准确反映事件背景。然而，特朗普的失言却给了民主党在选情日渐胶着之际主导舆论的机会。

特朗普还强烈抱怨福克斯新闻不公正。他动用纳税人的钱投放竞选式广告，引发了另一场争议；在南卡罗来纳州对一位民主党候选人使用了​​反跨性别者的侮辱性言论；并在周末于俄亥俄州向人群宣称，共和党将把选举胜利“塞进”对手的“屁股里”。

周二，他在马里兰州推销一个造船项目时，令人费解地即兴发挥，将“虚假媒体”重新命名为“人工”媒体，此前他已将人工智能称为“超级智能”，从而解放了“人工”一词。

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特朗普从不按剧本行事。事实上，他的即兴发挥往往是他的政治优势。然而，那些曾经让他成为政治体制终极局外人、颠覆者的即兴言论和嘲讽，如今却有可能成为他的累赘，因为选民们将高物价、中东泥潭以及他们希望的破灭归咎于他。

在这次中期选举中，选民对他执政期间的低支持率以及他对贫富差距问题的明显否认态度都构成了关键因素。他不断加大的竞选攻势——目前主要集中在共和党占优势的州——似乎缺乏策略。也没有证据表明他的竞选活动达到了预期效果，尽管他周二在Truth Social网站上声称自己“在各地扭转了选情”。

距离民主党只需再赢几个席位就能重夺众议院控制权的选举还有四周，而参议院的选情也胶着到最后一刻，特朗普正兑现他的承诺，将竞选的焦点集中在自己身上。民调显示，民主党仍然缺乏选民的信任，而特朗普此举或许是在放过他们。

他与科技亿万富翁们沆瀣一气，告诉美国民众必须接受人工智能数据中心，而许多选民却对这些数据中心深恶痛绝，因为它们不仅占用大量土地，而且耗水耗电。周一，他在内布拉斯加州为共和党人助选时，似乎对那些因他暂停对数万吨进口牛肉征收关税以降低国内牛肉价格而愤怒的牧场主们缺乏同情心，并声称如果民主党获胜，他们将“大有麻烦”。周二在巴尔的摩，他吹嘘股票价格不断创下历史新高——而这些股票最让美国最富有的人受益。他还告诉那些每次去加油站都提心吊胆的家庭，为了阻止伊朗获得核武器，付出“这点代价微不足道”——尽管他曾声称在发动战争前已经摧毁了德黑兰的核能力。

当总统确实有好消息要宣布时，例如韩国韩华集团在费城投资50亿美元用于基础设施建设，他往往将其包装成个人成就，而不是着重阐述这些成功如何能创造一个惠及美国工薪阶层的经济环境。他这种漫无目的的宣传方式，很少能将超出预期的退税额以及降低医疗和住房成本的举措等成就充分展现出来。

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在任总统在中期选举中总是面临艰难的抉择，尤其是在选民将经济困境归咎于他们的时候。但总统往往不是解释现实并提出改善方案，而是炮制出一个新的谎言。

“这是美国的黄金时代，”他周二说道。“我们正在创造前所未有的辉煌成就。” 这番话不仅无视了诸如CBS/YouGov周日发布的民调结果（该民调显示70%的选民认为他的政策推高了食品价格），而且在汽油均价4.36美元/加仑、柴油约6.30美元/加仑、抵押贷款利率刚刚突破7%的情况下，这对民主党来说无疑是天赐良机。

“总统正在表现出他生活在一个泡沫中，这并不奇怪，”密歇根州民主党众议员黛比·丁格尔周一告诉 CNN 的奥迪·科尼什，她特别指的是人工智能数据中心，但这也体现了特朗普更广泛的问题。

无论是强迫共和党在德克萨斯州和佐治亚州等州推出弱势候选人，还是坚持要求共和党推举一位支持率只有30%左右的总统，特朗普对中期选举的整个策略似乎都不明智。

“我请求你们假装我的名字出现在选票上，”总统上周在阿拉巴马州的一次集会上恳求选民，这让民主党策略师们欣喜不已。

但他的混乱之中是否也蕴含着某种规律？

特朗普试图拉拢温和派和独立选民可能是在浪费时间，因为民调显示他们正在疏远共和党。在缅因州、密歇根州和佐治亚州等摇摆州的参议院选举中，他的做法可能弊大于利。

如果民调可信，那么在俄亥俄州和爱荷华州等特朗普两年前以两位数优势获胜的州，选情胶着，那么重拾与基本盘之间那种近乎神秘的联系，或许能为他的政党提供唯一可行的应对之策。

“民主党人已经把特朗普总统列入了选票，”宾夕法尼亚州众议员瑞安·麦肯齐周二告诉CNN的马努·拉朱。“我们需要的是，我认为总统也想表达的是……我们需要共和党人明白，他将会出现在选票上，因为他的政策和议程将会被摆上台面。”

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2016年竞选期间，混乱非但没有适得其反，反而成了优势。特朗普桀骜不驯的性格、侮辱性的言辞和荒诞离奇的言论，彻底颠覆了他支持者所憎恶的传统道德。政界人士普遍认为，他诋毁参议员约翰·麦凯恩在越南战争中的英雄事迹，最终葬送了自己的竞选。但这一事件反而表明，特朗普早已洞悉先机，而政界和媒体精英们却浑然不觉他已经改变了游戏规则。

那时候，特朗普会仔细观察集会人群，试探他们对那些最出格言论的反应。集会常常像一场派对，有人说着许多人都赞同却不敢公开说出口的话。如今，特朗普再次发表长篇大论时，或许是想重现当年的盛况。

但十年后，情况发生了变化。特朗普如今不再是局外人；他成了体制内的代表人物，发动了一场解释不清的战争，推高了物价，尽管他试图表明自己并未放弃叛逆精神。

他的政治生涯之长令人惊叹。但高昂的房价和食品价格，恰恰反映了特朗普“黄金时代”与许多支持者所面临的现实之间的巨大差距。正如CNN记者亚伦·布莱克周二援引《纽约时报》/锡耶纳学院的民调指出，他的支持者群体似乎也在萎缩。民调显示，在阿拉斯加、爱荷华、堪萨斯、俄亥俄和德克萨斯等关键州，有9%到16%的共和党选民表示他们支持民主党候选人。

民调结果在最后几天可能会发生变化，但到了11月3日，这些结果将不再重要。届时，选民将对决定特朗普2026年竞选成败的关键问题做出最终决定。

这一切都是为了他们吗？