Trump’s fixation on unpopular 'vanity projects' tanking GOP midterms chances

President Donald Trump is increasingly fixated on "vanity projects" that are unpopular with voters, and according to a new analysis from MS NOW, it is leaving Republicans with little to campaign on for the midterms.

In a piece published Tuesday, MS NOW reporter Hayes Brown broke down the extent to which Trump is currently obsessed with pursuits that voters disapprove of, driven almost exclusively by his own ego. He is currently pushing hard for Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would create new barriers to voting in response to his own debunked claims about widespread voter fraud. Backers of the bill have pledged to block any new legislation until it is passed, and the president has said he will also not sign anything else until then.

This has effectively left Congress gridlocked indefinitely, as the SAVE Act lacks the support to overcome the filibuster and is increasingly losing support from several Republicans. As Brown argued, this has left congressional Republicans unable to pass anything that they might be able to campaign on in the midterms.

"Neither are the rest of Trump’s priorities beneficial for Republican candidates, especially not those whose constituents are likely worried about rising costs," Brown wrote. "Trump is as obsessed with tariffs as he is the 2020 election and refuses to acknowledge them as extra taxes on American consumers. A late-night social media diatribe from him Sunday illustrated his ongoing anger at the Supreme Court for rejecting his power to arbitrarily set tariffs rates. The issue still has his unbroken interest. Lawmakers, most of whom are loath to restore that power, are likely more dialed in on polls showing 60% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s tariff policy."

Brown continued: "The Iran war is unpopular, too. Some polls showed that it was more unpopular at its outset than any modern American war at its respective start, and the longer it drags on, the greater the potential for economic pain. But Trump has treated the military campaign, which is entering its third week, as more proof of his greatness and not a war in need of a serious strategy and well-defined goals."

Amidst all of those fixations driving away voters, Brown noted, Republicans in vulnerable swing districts have been keen for Trump to focus on a message based around the affordability crisis, which polls show is the main issue on voters' minds this year. Trump has largely failed to address this adequately, again because of his own ego.

"To admit there are problems under his rule is to admit he is not all-powerful, something that cuts against Trump’s need to mythologize himself," Brown explained.

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