If you’re a Republican candidate fighting for your electoral life ahead of the midterm elections, President Donald Trump wants you to know he’s here to make your life worse.
As a widely disliked man wholly incapable of reading the room, the narcissist in chief has put himself at the center of Republicans’ midterm campaigning, holding rallies across the country and generally doing everything possible to keep the spotlight on himself.
On Oct. 5, Trump made headlines by defending his decision to invade Iran and saying, “They can take out a city. Let them take out Los Angeles, let them take out San Diego.” Those examples of California cities brought cheers from the MAGA crowd, a less than ideal look for Republicans facing an electorate increasingly
opposed to both MAGA’s oft-vile nature and to the war itself.
Trump's rhetoric is doing nothing to help Republican midterm candidates
The same day, Trump got on his Truth Social account and unhelpfully griped about media coverage of his rallies, writing: “The New York Times, and many other Artificial Media Outlets, should be arrested for their dishonesty and disservice to our Country.”
As if that wasn’t enough to tarnish the Republicans' already grime-covered brand and keep his party off message, Trump attacked Annie Andrews, the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in South Carolina, by using a despicable anti-transgender slur in a Truth Social post. Andrews isn't a transgender person, by the way.
When facing a potential midterm drubbing, the last thing Republicans want is a social media reminder to voters who their Republican president is.
David Beasley, a former Republican governor of South Carolina, wrote on X that Trump’s attack on Andrews was “abhorrent,” adding: “Elections don’t have to be about cruelty and lies. South Carolina deserves better."
Republicans are having to explain or denounce Trump's cruel comments
So that’s just one day of Trump’s unhinged, bigoted babbling eating up the voting public’s attention. Imagine what lies ahead as he continues his spree of rallies in states across the country. Every time he opens his mouth, controversy falls out, forcing Republican candidates to spend time trying to sane-wash his comments.
Republican congressional candidate Jim Desmond wrote on X that he “vehemently” disagreed with Trump’s comments about Iran hitting San Diego or Los Angeles, adding, “No American city is expendable, and no American family should ever be treated as collateral damage.”
I’m sure that’s just what Desmond’s campaign team wanted to be talking about in the weeks before a midterm that will center around high gas and food prices and a wildly unpopular war.
Trump disappearing from the stage is the GOP's only hope
If Trump didn’t inhabit a Trump-centric world, he might realize his party’s candidates have it hard enough dealing with daily news of the administration’s failures.
For example, on Oct. 6, data from the U.S. Commerce Department showed America’s trade deficit hit a 17-month high of $105.6 billion in August. As The New York Times noted: “It was the largest monthly total since before Mr. Trump imposed his global tariffs in April 2025, and larger than any monthly trade deficit in the last year of the Biden administration.”
You might remember the point of Trump’s tariffs was supposedly to bring down the trade deficit. So we’ve endured high prices since he started slapping tariffs on everything, and it has accomplished a sum total of nothing.
Republicans being hamstrung by Trump is some delicious karma
Good luck campaigning on that data point, Republicans.
In fact, maybe the GOP candidates struggling to keep their heads above water are glad to see Trump on the campaign trail making a babbling fool of himself.
Dealing with his daily burst of nonsense and cruelty might be easier than confronting the grim realities of the mess this president has created.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump isn't helping Republicans one bit. It's all about him | Opinion
