2026 Midterms (1 Viewer)

[Optimus Prime]

President Trump's team has launched an early and aggressive behind-the-scenes effort to maintain the GOP's tenuous grip on the House in 2026 — and avoid his third impeachment.

Why it matters: Trump allies believe — with good reason — that a Democrat-controlled House would launch investigations of the president and move to impeach him. That's exactly what happened after Democrats seized the chamber during Trump's first term.

• Midterm elections are historically tough for the party occupying the White House, and senior Republicans privately acknowledge that retaining the speaker's gavel won't be easy.

The twice-impeached Trump "knows the stakes firsthand. He saw what can happen. It's clear he doesn't want that again," said Matt Gorman, a top official for House Republicans' campaign arm in the 2018 midterms.

• "Investigations, impeachment — he knows it's all on the table with a Speaker [Hakeem] Jeffries."
• Already, some Democrats have signaled they want to investigate Trump's overhaul of the U.S. government, whether he manipulated markets and fostered insider trading with his tariff announcements, and whether he's helped Elon Musk secure deals for Starlink.
• Then there's that $400 million jet from Qatar. Democrats and other critics say Trump violated the Constitution by accepting the gift.

Zoom in: Here are five steps Trump's taking to try to keep Republican control of the House, where the GOP has an eight-seat majority — including vacancies created this year by the deaths of three Democrats.

1. Trying to prevent retirements

The White House is targeting several Republicans in politically divided swing districts and urging them to not ditch their seats or run for higher office.

• It has sent a clear message to New York Rep. Mike Lawler that Trump wants him to stay in the House rather than run for governor. This month Trump made a point of endorsing Lawler for re-election to his southern New York district, which Kamala Harris won in the presidential election last November.
• Trump's team also has expressed concern about Michigan Rep. Bill Huizenga weighing a run for the Senate.

Incumbent lawmakers with established fundraising and campaigning networks are almost always better positioned to win than any challengers.

• Vacant seats also cost the party big bucks. Trump's allies have been passing around a spreadsheet with cost estimates to compete in the seats of 16 members if they depart. Among the estimated price tags: As much as $14 million for Lawler's seat and $3.7 million for Huizenga's.

Trump's team hasn't been totally successful in dissuading ambitious lawmakers from jumping ship.

• Michigan Rep. John James opted to run for governor. Trump is worried about the GOP's chances of keeping James' seat on the state's eastern shore, according to a person familiar with the president's thinking.
• The White House also is worried about retaining the central Kentucky seat held by Rep. Andy Barr, who's running for Senate. Trump won Barr's district by 15 points in November, but Democrats hold an edge in registered voters there.

2. Spending big

Trump has built a $500 million-plus political apparatus, and he's already unloading some of it with 2026 in mind.

• Securing American Greatness, a pro-Trump group that works with the White House, has launched a multimillion-dollar ad campaign touting his economic agenda in the districts of eight vulnerable House Republicans.
• The commercials also are airing in 13 districts where Trump won in November, but House GOP candidates lost

• Trump also has a leadership PAC, Never Surrender, planning to give directly to Republican candidates.

3. Taking primary challengers off the table

Besides Lawler, Trump has endorsed a slate of swing-district GOP incumbents in a series of moves aimed at shutting down would-be primary challengers before they get off the ground, people close to the president tell Axios.

• Top Republicans are worried that competitive primaries could drain the party's resources and weaken lawmakers in next year's general election.

The endorsements by Trump followed a recent meeting involving the president, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) chair Richard Hudson, and Georgia Rep. Brian Jack, a former Trump aide.

• Trump proposed endorsing vulnerable Republicans early to ward off primary challenges and Johnson agreed, according to a person familiar with the discussion.
• Corry Bliss, who formerly led a pro-House GOP super PAC, said Trump's popularity among Republican voters is likely to stop many potential primary challengers in their tracks............

https://www.axios.com/2025/05/27/trump-5-steps-gop-house-2026

 

[GrandAdmiral]

Great post and points made….i do wish the field was narrower though. Some of these candidates should have packed it in months ago.

Which is why I'm still fearful of two Republicans sneaking into the run-off because Dems with zero chance of winning are too stubborn to get out of their on way.

 

[zztop]

Hopefully progressives learn that not all billionaires are evil. Steyer, among others have always been a proponent of higher taxes on the rich, whether it is with higher taxes themselves or, at a minimum, closing the thousands of tax loopholes that the rich has been able to take advantage of.

Eh, I just feel like theres no ethical way a person becomes a billionaire through nothing but hard work and effort. unless he won the lottery or something, I'm inclined to believe he stepped on his fair share of necks to get that wealthy.

 

[Taurus]

Hopefully progressives learn that not all billionaires are evil. Steyer, among others have always been a proponent of higher taxes on the rich, whether it is with higher taxes themselves or, at a minimum, closing the thousands of tax loopholes that the rich has been able to take advantage of.

Makes me think of a French aristocrat saying "That's a lot of pitchforks, Your Majesty."

 

[TampaJoe]

Do you assign any blame to the GOP for promoting and enabling Trump?

Yep. Always have.

 

[TampaJoe]

Joe Biden was and is for more mentally fit than TACO. Just listen to a TACO speech, watch the videos. He's completely lost it.
Was it Joe Biden who went to give a speech and Q/A session but instead just stood on stage awkwardly swaying to his theme music for a half hour? No, it was TACO. Please don't try to argue that this is the behavior of a mentally well person.
Virtually all of TACOs social media posts are nothing but unhinged whining. A toddler in the body of a fat adult.

Now that’s whataboutism. Top notch whataboutism. The question is whether Biden was mentally fit. And the answer is no. Quite simply no.

Was Trump mentally fit? No.

Neither of those men were fit for office.

 

[MT15]

Yep. Always have.

When? Can you provide me a post where you have been critical of the GOP? I don’t remember any.

 

[TampaJoe]

When? Can you provide me a post where you have been critical of the GOP? I don’t remember any.

I have said repeatedly that the two political parties are failing this country. I have said repeatedly that we need better candidates.

I can’t help what you don’t remember. But feel free to go back and find any post of mine that where I said the GOP wasn’t responsible for Trump. He was the parties nominee after all.

 

[Sendai]

When? Can you provide me a post where you have been critical of the GOP? I don’t remember any.

Joe’s refusal to vote for trump is a sufficient rejection.

 

[MT15]

Joe’s refusal to vote for trump is a sufficient rejection.

He was making a point about how he blames the Democratic Party for Biden running for a second term. I honestly cannot remember him being critical of the GOP even once. So you have just totally missed the point of the discussion. His refusal to vote for Trump has no bearing on the culpability of the GOP for enabling and promoting Trump.

 

[MT15]

I have said repeatedly that the two political parties are failing this country. I have said repeatedly that we need better candidates.

I can’t help what you don’t remember. But feel free to go back and find any post of mine that where I said the GOP wasn’t responsible for Trump. He was the parties nominee after all.

Ah, yes, every criticism is always done in the “both sides” mode. There is no criticism of the GOP without equal criticism of the Democratic Party even though they have never promoted a candidate as depraved as Trump. And they in fact did step in and force Biden to withdraw - too late in the process, but they did take action.

The GOP goes along with every depravity that Trump comes up with, and they are real doozies. Pardoning people who violently attacked and injured police officers, pardoning drug kingpins as long as they give him money, pardoning any fraudster who contributed to him. Accepting bribes from foreign governments openly. Suing the internal revenue and instructing the DOJ to settle the case. Having the DOJ settle multiple lawsuits from his allies. Maintaining the 2020 election was “stolen” without proof, and having his DOJ seize voter files. Attempting to force states to turn over voter rolls, ignoring so many court orders that you cannot even keep track of them.

I haven’t even enumerated the majority of his crimes and misdemeanors. There is no comparison that can honestly be made between the 2 parties at this point.

Fooling yourself into this sort of false equivalency is patently obvious and partisan.

 

[TampaJoe]

Ah, yes, every criticism is always done in the “both sides” mode. There is no criticism of the GOP without equal criticism of the Democratic Party even though they have never promoted a candidate as depraved as Trump. And they in fact did step in and force Biden to withdraw - too late in the process, but they did take action.

The GOP goes along with every depravity that Trump comes up with, and they are real doozies. Pardoning people who violently attacked and injured police officers, pardoning drug kingpins as long as they give him money, pardoning any fraudster who contributed to him. Accepting bribes from foreign governments openly. Suing the internal revenue and instructing the DOJ to settle the case. Having the DOJ settle multiple lawsuits from his allies. Maintaining the 2020 election was “stolen” without proof, and having his DOJ seize voter files. Attempting to force states to turn over voter rolls, ignoring so many court orders that you cannot even keep track of them.

I haven’t even enumerated the majority of his crimes and misdemeanors. There is no comparison that can honestly be made between the 2 parties at this point.

Fooling yourself into this sort of false equivalency is patently obvious and partisan.

Were it not for the fact that Biden had a disastrous debate, the Dems would have gladly voted for a man with clearly diminished mental capacity, not to mention stage 4 prostate cancer. So to argue to me that they are somehow more noble or less power hungry than their GOP counterparts is pure BS.

The largest voting bloc in this country calls themselves independents. They don’t want to own either party. They don’t have confidence in either party. Who could blame them.

Harris lost the popular vote and she lost every single swing state to a man you consider to be the second coming of Hitler and you blame the voters. You can’t bring yourself to admit that the party that lost didn’t bring their best candidate or run a good campaign.

Don’t you find it funny that the Dems won’t release their “autopsy” on the election? Truth hurts I guess.

 

[gummbo]

Which is why I'm still fearful of two Republicans sneaking into the run-off because Dems with zero chance of winning are too stubborn to get out of their on way.

I think the voting public on the Democratic side is too divided right now, I’m a Katie Porter fan and my wife likes Stier(not sure of the spelling )And I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about him. but I will be waiting till the last minute before I place my vote, but at this point for me, it’s #NeverRepublican.

 

[gummbo]

 

[Neworleansfan]

Trump and the GOP who are now holding the majority are the same. If they are not the same, they are complicit.
There are people who are now trying to distance GOP from Trump. Why? Because Midterm is coming up. For Those people, they can go fork themselves.

 

[cuddlemonkey]

Joe’s refusal to vote for trump is a sufficient rejection.

Joe voted for GOP representation in Congress. Those people support and empower Trump. That is not a rejection in any way. You and Joe are dead forking wrong.

 

[cuddlemonkey]

Were it not for the fact that Biden had a disastrous debate, the Dems would have gladly voted for a man with clearly diminished mental capacity, not to mention stage 4 prostate cancer. So to argue to me that they are somehow more noble or less power hungry than their GOP counterparts is pure BS.

The largest voting bloc in this country calls themselves independents. They don’t want to own either party. They don’t have confidence in either party. Who could blame them.

Harris lost the popular vote and she lost every single swing state to a man you consider to be the second coming of Hitler and you blame the voters. You can’t bring yourself to admit that the party that lost didn’t bring their best candidate or run a good campaign.

Don’t you find it funny that the Dems won’t release their “autopsy” on the election? Truth hurts I guess.

Yet no word on Trump not releasing his tax returns or Trump's DOJ not releasing the gosh darned Epstein Files. This is how people know you are an unserious, partisan hack.

 

[MT15]

Were it not for the fact that Biden had a disastrous debate, the Dems would have gladly voted for a man with clearly diminished mental capacity, not to mention stage 4 prostate cancer.

Nobody knew about the prostate cancer, so it’s pure BS to bring it up. People were also shocked at the bad debate performance. Once again you are proving my case and not yours. After the debate performance happened, the wheels to stop him from running were set in motion. Even still there is no comparison between the two men. Biden shows no moral depravity, no narcissistic pathology, no compulsive lying, no grandiose delusions.

The only horrible take here is yours - that there is any equivalence between the two parties. One is a normal political party with faults and foibles. The kind of normal faults that all humans have. Biden has the sorts of normal faults that all humans have.

The GOP is enabling and supporting an absolute psychopath. Someone who feels no regret when people die even due to his own actions and decisions, who is incapable of empathy, in fact incapable of considering that anyone else has equal importance to him. He will do anything he can to preserve his power with no regard for others. We’ve seen it, this isn’t theoretical.

 

[Optimus Prime]

I have said repeatedly that the two political parties are failing this country. I have said repeatedly that we need better candidates.

I can’t help what you don’t remember. But feel free to go back and find any post of mine that where I said the GOP wasn’t responsible for Trump. He was the parties nominee after all.

Both sides!!