By Jeffrey A. Rendall
Does Trump’s ambitious campaign schedule and strategy signal strength or weakness?
“On the road again… I can’t wait to get on the road again.”
Everyone who was alive during the 1980s recognizes the classic Willie Nelson country music song. Here’s thinking the mere mention of the tune has a sizeable chunk of those reading this continuing to hum the melody as they go along.
Yet the song’s theme is more than applicable to today’s political situation as well, where President Donald J. Trump has commenced a nationwide campaign swing in an attempt to bolster the chances of Republican House and Senate candidates across the fruited plain.
The establishment media’s news is flooded with reports of caution and warning lights blaring just about everywhere, with self-interested liberal/leftist media honks gleefully predicting a landslide of epic proportions for Democrats, all intended to finally teach Trump a lesson on how disliked he really is.
Trump has countered with a goal of visiting traditional conservative strongholds to gin up turnout among the most ardent of Trump backers, a risky yet understandable plan to possibly tip the balance in races that could, theoretically, go either way based on the participation level of a small sliver of the electorate.
What should Trump do? Is it time for, “On the road again” to serve as a Republican campaign mantra?
In an article titled, “‘On a scale of 1 to 10, 10’: Trump’s midterm travel schedule underscores GOP troubles”, Alex Gangitano, Megan Messerly and Myah Ward reported at Politico earlier this week:
“Inside the White House, concern is particularly high over the Senate races in Alaska and Ohio, which the president both won handily in 2024. In Alaska, Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan lost by 8 points in a nonpartisan primary to the Democrat Mary Peltola. Trump is planning to make the trek to Alaska later this month to shore up Sullivan’s chances — a significant commitment of time and presidential resources that underscores how dire the situation is for Republicans.
“’On a scale of 1 to 10,’ said a person close to the White House, ‘10. In Alaska, because of the obvious situation of what happened in the primary, and in Ohio, because [Jon] Husted is proving not to be a compelling candidate.’
“The White House referred a request for comment to the Republican National Committee. RNC spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre, in a statement, pointed to Republicans’ significant financial advantage in the races — coupled with the president’s upcoming travel schedule — as two signs of strength heading into the midterms.”
Talk about batting the proverbial tennis ball back across the net. Baldassarre has probably had to respond to this type of interrogation a million times this year – you know, the “Republicans are gonna lose huge and what are you doing about it?” snide observation – and hence the reply is nearly always the same.
Loosely translated, the Republican response is, “We got a lot more money than the Democrats”, and, “Trump is coming to your state or district to campaign for him or her.”
This is a similar line of establishment media “concern” they exude every election cycle, particularly when there’s a lame duck president and the party in power is purportedly worried about losing seats in a low-turnout midterm. I haven’t looked, but here’s thinking media outlets ran similar stories in 2006 during George W. Bush’s second term and in 2014, when “The One”, Barack Obama, was at his low ebb ahead of his final midterm congressional challenge.
The Big O, after the 2014 election shellacking, said he “Still has a pen and a phone.”
In both of those cases, the president’s party took a bath, as did Trump’s in 2018. It’s the nature of the politics beast in the United States and the primary reason why being a journo or an establishment media commentator must be the easiest job ever. You simply need to recover your old material from the previous cycle, update it with new names and locales and turn it in to your editor for approval.
Our church’s pastor once shared that he wrote sermons for the 3-year church cycle, and once completed, all he had to do afterwards was refer to what he’d written three years ago and simply replay the tape, so to speak. The parishioners didn’t remember. Why would they? That’s a great way to simplify the job, isn’t it?
Politics isn’t so different. The president’s congressional candidates are saddled with whatever is unpopular at the time, and presto, instant storyline for the talkers. This year, it’s “affordability”, the Iran War and Trump’s tariff schemes. Democrats don’t even need to think up new ads. All they must do is re-watch the political spots from last year’s off-year elections and the story is the same.
Of course, for them, bashing Trump is perfunctory, and his campaign modus operandi is always fair game for the doubter-kneejerk judgmental lot. Why would Trump be going to such and such a location when he could break ground in a new place instead?
Incidentally, the Politico reporters’ subheading for their Trump critique read, “Each trip to play defense robs the GOP of a chance to put Democrats on the back foot in states that are traditionally competitive.”
My question for those who see Trump’s midterm campaign strategy and find fault with it is, “What would you do if you were him?”
It already seems like forever ago that the Republicans held the first ever Midterm Republican National Convention last month, with Trump more or less serving as the keynote speaker on both evenings in Texas. Trump delivered a typical Trump-ian performance, which basically translated to no retreat, no give, no redeployment of message and no backtracking in tone for the first-time politician who altered the political landscape and practically single-handedly revised the rule book on how to conduct a campaign.
At the same time, Trump surmises — and rightly so based on past results and present capabilities of his “team” members — that he’s the best arm in the bullpen. The president recognizes that the absence of his name on the ballot makes a difference in broad swaths of the country, and it’s up to him to attempt to tip the balance in those places.
Simply stated, there’s no one better than Trump on the campaign trail. Barack Obama was also in the upper echelon of talented campaigners, but his sway with the Democrat electorate wasn’t nearly as strong as Trump’s is with the MAGA coalition. Trump’s record of making promises – and then keeping them – has assembled a loyal base that only the president can tap.
Does visiting red territory merely cost votes in other locations?
Perhaps. I haven’t checked the schedule, but here’s thinking Trump could potentially garner results in places like Minnesota and New Hampshire – each with conceivably flippable senate seats — but both of these states are blue-leaning and could just as easily spur additional leftist turnout for Democrats if he ventured there. The net-positive benefit would therefore be negligible.
The eternal question: “Do the haters hate me more than my backers love me?”
The president appears to have abandoned any attempt to woo swing voters who have been soured against him by his irrepressible governing style. Those, including myself, who figured Trump could slightly alter his pitch so as to expand the GOP tent, have been disappointed at the Trump team’s lack of message discipline on a number of topics.
I’ve said it before, but Big Bubba Bill Clinton’s “I feel your pain” empathy, if employed by Trump in the right circumstances, could have helped win back some of the independent voters who were repelled by the man’s hard edge, particularly on kitchen table issues such as gas and food prices. Shippers are feeling the pinch with astronomically high diesel charges – and the numbers have materialized on store shelves.
The party figurehead hitting the road can only help motivate Trump’s most ardent backers, but then again, Trump is great at talking about himself and not necessarily as effective at generating warm thoughts about other candidates. His endorsement record has been solid, but his say-so doesn’t guarantee success.
We’ll have to see if Trump still has magic left in his legendary campaign rallies. He’s had to move the events indoors to better protect against kook assassination attempts, and attendance will depend on the GOP staff bringing out his biggest fans and then making sure they urge others to join them in voting this year.
It’s easy for Trump’s detractors to question whatever he does and automatically assume his 2026 campaign mission will end in failure. They’ve waited for years to be proven correct, but Trump has defied the odds before. The media and Democrats smirk at his latest efforts, but it’s never wise to bet against Donald Trump.
Jeff Rendall is editor and publisher of GolfintheUSA.com and has written about golf and politics for over a quarter of a century. A non-practicing attorney from California, he moved to the east coast three decades ago to pursue and combine his interests in all things American history and culture. Jeff has worked as an intern on Capitol Hill and in various capacities in grassroots organizing and conservative organizations and publications, including a nearly two-decade stint at ConservativeHQ.com. Column republishing or other inquiries: Rendall@msn.com .