President Donald Trump made a startling admission on Wednesday as he met with his Cabinet.
“I don’t care about the midterms,” Trump told reporters when asked about the Iran war and the slow-moving negotiations to end the conflict.
“Look what happened last night. That was a preview of the midterms,” Trump added, pointing to the overwhelming defeat of incumbent GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas by scandal-plagued Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Senate Republican runoff. GOP leaders fear Paxton’s victory puts Texas in play this November, at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Yet what Trump doesn’t seem focused on enough is restoring Americans’ faith in the U.S. economy. And that’s a huge political problem for both GOP congressional leaders and vulnerable Republicans as they try to save their endangered majorities. Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune don’t say it publicly. But privately, it alarms the Republican leadership.
Trump’s poll numbers on the economy — by far the top issue this year — have collapsed. Some recent polls had him under 30%, an absolute disaster for Republicans.
Consumer confidence has hit record lows as well. Americans are cutting back on spending as they struggle with rising gas prices and interest rates, even as Wall Street notches record highs. The number of Americans struggling to put food on the table is growing.
Trump and Republicans will get more critical news on the inflation front today. The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis will release the April 2026 personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index data this morning — the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation.
Analysts expect the PCE data to come in well above the Fed’s target rate, with soaring gas prices being a major factor. The Fed may be forced to raise rates this year despite the president’s push to lower them.
Yet Trump has repeatedly made clear that his agenda — Iran, the immigration crackdown, massive military spending, the hundreds of millions of dollars for White House ballroom security, the “anti-weaponization” fund for his political allies, UFC fights, the Reflecting Pool, triumphal arches and Indy cars — is what he’s spending his time on.
“I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation,” Trump said just two weeks ago, another stunning comment that Democrats have seized on. “I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing — we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That’s all.” Americans are overwhelmingly opposed to the Iran war, according to recent polls.
Thune and other GOP leaders clearly see the need to talk about the economy despite Trump’s comments.
“We need to ensure that we succeed [in Iran],” Thune told Hugh Hewitt on Wednesday. “And then also at the same time, prove that we can do two things at one time and focus clearly on the economic issues that I think are going to be front and center for a lot of the American people when they vote.”
Ninety-nine problems. As Trump fixates on everything but cost-of-living issues that vulnerable Republicans desperately want to address, the GOP is running out of time to change course. The House and Senate have long recesses planned in August and October, as well as a July 4 break. Mixed in there is the FISA reauthorization deadline in June, two reconciliation bills Republicans want to pass and a government funding deadline on Sept. 30.
Meanwhile, GOP leaders are stuck battling Democrats’ near-constant Iran war powers votes. They are also struggling to pass a GOP-drafted reconciliation bill that funds ICE and Border Patrol, a measure intended to unite Republicans. That immigration enforcement package is stuck in the Senate thanks to GOP opposition to the “anti-weaponization” fund.
There’s been bipartisan work on an affordable housing bill — a rare glimmer of hope to do something about affordability — but it’s also caught up in a House-Senate standoff.
Trump’s Iran quagmire. U.S. forces attacked Iranian sites again on Wednesday. This came after Iran reportedly launched drones against American bases, including in Kuwait. This is the second such U.S. attack in a few days, a sign of how fragile the ceasefire with Iran is.
Iran will be center stage on Capitol Hill next week. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Appropriations Committee next Tuesday, plus the House Foreign Affairs Committee next Wednesday.
Trump’s GOP power. Trump isn’t done flexing his political muscle in Senate Republican primaries either, which just makes Thune’s job even tougher. Look at what’s happening in the Georgia Senate GOP runoff between hardline Republican Rep. Mike Collins and Derek Dooley, a former football coach backed by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.
The controversial, MAGA-centric Collins has hired several Trump campaign aides, including pollster Tony Fabrizio, a sign that the president may back Collins, per Axios. But Collins is seen by many GOP insiders as a weaker general-election opponent against Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff.
