President Donald Trump on Monday gathered more than a hundred small business leaders at the White House to tout tax cuts included in his “Big Beautiful Bill.”
Some of his closest allies worry the president is wasting time.
With gas prices approaching record levels and Trump’s approval rating hovering around 37 percent, it’s time for Republicans to go scorched earth on Democrats, GOP operatives insist.
And while Trump has never shied away from blaming the opposition, especially his predecessors, his tendency to deviate from his message — to talk about the new White House ballroom, the reflecting pool or the construction of his “victory arch” — is muddying the negative message allies insist the White House needs to sell heading into the fall.
“You tell people you voted for a tax cut, and they say, ‘That’s nice, that’s good.’ … But what they didn’t tell the voters was, by the way, every Democrat in the House and Senate voted to increase your taxes,” said Trump pollster John McLaughlin. “You’re going to see the Republicans getting more aggressive about the contrast with the Democrats, whether it’s implementing workfare this year, it’s rooting out corruption in food stamps and other things like Medicaid.”
The push comes as Republicans grow increasingly anxious about their midterm prospects. Holding the House looks unlikely — even with a slew of Southern states redistricting following the Supreme Court’s recent Voting Rights Act ruling. And their grip on the Senate appears tenuous.
“Everybody is pretty realistic about the fact that holding the House is going to be extremely difficult,” said a person close to the White House, granted anonymity to speak candidly. “Every day the war goes on, every day gas prices hover around five bucks, it makes it less and less likely, and it’s already very unlikely.”
That’s why there is a growing call to dial up the negative rhetoric even at the expense of touting some of the president’s signature accomplishments. It’s not a particularly new play — campaigns typically go negative closer to the election — but calls for it are happening earlier in the cycle in large part because the Iran war and oil prices are making it hard for the administration to sell a rosy economic picture.
Many Republicans, including the president, are hoping for a quick end to the war and a drop in gas prices. But with no end in sight and the summer driving season around the corner, attention has turned to the other side.
“You might start talking about how they are for open borders or are for higher taxes. Reminding people that’s there’s consequences. You might not like what you have but you’ll hate what they do,” said former White House press secretary Sean Spicer. “The scare tactic is always tried and true. It works.”
White House spokesperson Olivia Wales said that Trump will “continue to draw a sharp contrast with his commonsense agenda and the radical Democrats in Congress,” pointing to Democrats’ record on border security, the economy and crime and their opposition to the Big Beautiful Bill.
“The Democrats’ America-Last policies nearly destroyed our country during the failed Biden years, and President Trump has reversed their failures and is working every day to lower costs for working families,” Wales said.
The Republican National Committee, meanwhile, insists the GOP has the time and talent to both talk tax cuts and attack Democrats, and there is no immediate need for a course correction.
“Democrats aren’t just opposing the Working Families Tax Cuts — they’re doubling down on the same failed agenda that drove record-high gas prices, skyrocketing inflation, and fewer opportunities for American workers and small businesses,” said RNC spokesperson Kiersten Pels. “While President Trump is focused on lowering costs and strengthening the economy, Democrats are focused on their deranged agenda to oppose President Trump even if it means blocking relief for working families.”
But it’s the polling underscoring the fear among White House allies. Trump’s disapproval rating hit a fresh high in the most recent Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll. And economic concerns are pushing 18- to 34-year-olds toward Democrats, according to a poll from nonpartisan outfit Generation Lab. It shows young Americans planning to vote Democratic in November by a margin of 52 percent to 19 percent.
“The part of the messaging equation that we, our side, has to do better, is they have got to talk about how Dems and [former President Joe] Biden were responsible for the problems we inherited,” said a Republican campaign strategist, granted anonymity to speak candidly. “You did not hear a Democrat or [Barack] Obama in 2012 talk about the economy without mentioning George Bush 17 times. My advice on all this stuff is always attack.”
Some White House allies, after months of advocating for a strong contrast message, say the administration has finally started to make the turn. McLaughlin described it as a fundamental — but “positive” — shift from earlier in the year, to things like welfare work requirements, fraud in Medicaid and food stamp programs and Democrats’ opposition to tax cuts.
“If you talk to the NRCC, they’re spinning,” said one Republican donor and fundraiser, adding that the White House is “shifting from trying to sell their accomplishments to Democrats ‘are bad.’” That shift, the person said, is a bad sign for how the Trump team is feeling about the midterms “because when you go negative, that means you’re behind.”
The NRCC pushed back on that characterization, arguing it has long been on the attack against Democrats but that people also want to hear a positive economic message, too. It launched a paid advertising campaign on Tax Day last month that targeted 28 vulnerable House Democrats for voting against the Big Beautiful Bill.
“The NRCC makes decisions rooted in data and polling, not vibes, which is why we tune out the chattering class. The NRCC is working hand-in-glove with the White House and our battle-tested Republican candidates to hammer vulnerable House Democrats for backing the largest tax hike since World War II, raising taxes on every income level, keeping tips fully taxed, and gutting the child tax credit,” said NRCC spokesperson Mike Marinella.
Still, not everyone is convinced that the White House’s messaging turn is happening fast enough — or that the president has the discipline to execute it. During his Monday speech that was ostensibly about small businesses, the president spoke at length about how he had aced multiple cognitive tests and the ongoing work to paint the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
Republicans are looking for “relentless message execution around small economic gains” and not the weave from the president, said one GOP strategist, granted anonymity to speak candidly.
“When you are in the minority, bomb-throwing works,” the person said, “not when you are in charge.”
