By Sam StevensonAssociate News Editor0ShareNewsweek is a Trust Project member
President Donald Trump took a shifting tone on the midterms on Wednesday, pointing out that even if Republicans lose control of the House, Senate, or both, he would remain the U.S. commander-in-chief.
“I’m here whether we win this or not,” he told reporters in Arizona and Montana.
The shift in tone came just two days after he urged supporters in Alaska to “pretend” it was him on the ballot, a campaign message he has repeated often in recent weeks, as forecasts have shifted to favor Democrats to gain control of both chambers.
Republican candidates have been put on the defensive as Democrats have surged in polling and Trump has seen his approval rating consistently slope downward. GOP leaders have redirected money to once-thought-safe House districts and Senate races in an attempt to limit losses.
The White House insists that Trump remains central to the Republican campaign, with spokesman Davis Ingle describing him as the party’s “unequivocal leader” and saying his policy positions on the economy and the border presented voters with a clear choice between a “commonsense agenda” and the “Democrats’ extreme liberal policies and obstruction” in November.
This is why I’ve taken to ignoring such articles and downvoting them. They seem to be getting used as a wedge issue to try to drive down Democratic turnout and set leftists upon each other.
It’s my view that those kinds of things probably do require nuance and so on. I don’t know that all the answers are in, honestly and it’s because of that is probably why 1) it’s an 80/20 issue and 2) that’s why Republicans hammer on it constantly as if it’s the only issue the nation is facing right now.
I have trans in my life that I agonize about daily over their safety. Getting more Republicans in office because some Democrat(s) didn’t pass some hurdle on the issues you talk about is not in my (or their) interest. Framing some Democrat that may not be in the same place on things like sports and so on as being equivalent to the conservative position is nothing short of ridiculous and is actively harmful, given what the conservatives really want to do.