MS NOW reporter Mychael Schnell said on Saturday that congressional Republicans have given up hope that President Donald Trump will end his Iran war before the midterm elections — and that some GOP candidates now expect to lose key races in November as a direct result.
Schnell appeared on “The Weekend” after several Republican candidates distanced themselves from Trump earlier this month. The president has turned the focus of the midterms to himself, even as his dropping approval ratings loom as a significant threat to his party’s chances.
Schnell was asked what’s new about this week’s “panic” inside the GOP.
“That they’ve kind of gotten to the point of no return, right?” Schnell said. “Beforehand, there was enough time for the Iran war to maybe come to an end, be buttoned up with some kind of conclusion, and then have enough weeks for gas prices to recalibrate.”
She added, “But the feeling right now is that we’re, what, 30 days out from the midterms, there’s no sign of the Iran war ending anytime soon, no sign of an off-ramp. So Republicans are kind of coming to the realization that this is not ending.”
Schnell reported earlier this week that one House Republican even admitted, “We’re gonna get crushed. The only question is by how much.” The lawmaker, who was granted anonymity, told MS NOW that these midterms are all about high food and gas prices.
Trump vowed ahead of his 2024 re-election to boost the economy and keep the U.S. out of foreign entanglements, only to impose tariffs, launch a costly war and celebrate rising inflation — all of which have fueled his precipitous drop in popularity in polling.
“And the president’s message has been, ‘Pretend like I’m on the ballot,’ right?” Schnell said, adding: “That may be fine, well and good in a different election cycle where the president still knows how to turn out his voters and still has his grip. But look at his polls.”
She noted, “He’s at record-low polling. So, they’re just sort of seeing that their strategies are not working, the environment that they’re in right now is not changing, which is leading them to believe — as that one Republican said — ‘We’re gonna get crushed.’”
Several candidates have already started acting as though their ties to Trump could hurt them in November, including some who previously accepted his support and frequently spoke up for him.
Axios congressional reporter Kate Santaliz on Saturday predicted this will only continue.
“We’ve seen a few people move, especially over the last few weeks,” she said. “So I guess over the next five weeks we will see potentially some more Republicans try to distance themselves from the president on issues that they view him as a liability on, like this Iran war.”