By Nandita Bose, Bo Erickson and Steve Holland
WASHINGTON, Oct 17 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump is blaming senior aides and political operatives for a faltering midterm strategy, questioning campaign spending, faulting redistricting and second-guessing candidate choices as Republicans fight to retain control of Congress, said three people familiar with internal discussions.
Trump is not on the November 3 ballot but repeatedly tells supporters to pretend that he is, hoping to mobilize voters who might otherwise skip the election. He has embarked on a frenetic campaign schedule while largely avoiding acknowledging his own role in shaping the strategy and how his unpopularity is weighing on Republican candidates in competitive races.
Much of the friction has centered on James Blair, the longtime aide who runs Trump’s super PAC MAGA Inc., and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who until now had largely escaped criticism. Trump has faulted Blair’s handling of campaign funds, while some White House officials and allies have questioned Wiles’ oversight of the political operation.
As Trump questions why campaign spending has failed to improve Republican polling numbers, his advisers are also blaming one another. Wiles has pointed to Blair, while Blair has faulted the White House legislative affairs team, one of the people said.
“What’s really happening is a circular firing squad,” the person said.
Opinion polls suggest Democrats will win the House of Representatives, while the Senate remains too close to call. Losing the House would hamper Trump’s legislative agenda in the final two years of his term and give Democrats subpoena power to investigate his administration.
Trump defended Wiles on Friday, calling her “smart” and “tough” and saying she would remain in her job. “Susie is here, and she’s going to be here for a long time,” he said.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle rejected the sources’ characterization, saying they were “armchair experts peddling their baseless speculation.” Wiles did not respond to a request for comment.
TRUMP HAS LONG DISTANCED HIMSELF FROM POLITICAL SETBACKS
Trump has long sought to distance himself from political setbacks. He refused to accept his defeat in the 2020 election and said ahead of the 2022 midterm results that he deserved “all the credit” if Republicans won but “should not be blamed at all” if they lost. More recently, he has reminded audiences that the president’s party typically struggles in midterm elections.
But Trump helped devise and drive some of the strategies he is now questioning, including the redistricting effort and candidate choices shaped by his personal loyalties or grievances. His approval rating is at the lowest point of his presidency, weighed down by voter concern over high prices and dissatisfaction with the Iran war.
Trump’s frustrations with his political team spilled into public view after Blair and Chris LaCivita, who co-managed Trump’s 2024 campaign, traveled in early October to Republika Srpska, a self-governing region of Bosnia. The New York Times reported the men received substantial payments to advise the regional government ahead of local elections.
Trump distanced himself from both men, describing them as “outside consultants” in an October 7 Truth Social post and warning that if he found a conflict of interest, he would “terminate them, immediately!”
Senior White House officials questioned why Blair was taking on lucrative work overseas when he was supposed to be overseeing the final stretch of the Republican campaign, three people said.
One person said Wiles approved the trip without informing Trump, raising questions about how closely she was overseeing his political advisers.
For Trump, the larger concern is that Blair’s outside work has distracted him from his political responsibilities, two people said.
In a statement, Blair said: “All of this mudslinging is ridiculous, and counterproductive. President Trump and me are focused on helping Republicans win in November. Every other Republican should be doing the same.”
In a separate statement, LaCivita said: “President Trump and his team are and always have been focused on the midterms. That’s demonstrated through the money, message and motivation that the president is bringing on the road and all year. Sniping from unnamed cowards who’ve never been in a fight is not worth responding to.”
$200 MILLION AND REDISTRICTING
With Trump asking why Republican polling in pivotal races has not improved despite MAGA Inc.’s campaign spending, which public records put at $200 million so far, it remains unclear whether he will approve more spending before the election, one of the sources said.
Trump also has pressed political aides and advisers in the past week to explain why the redistricting effort he personally pushed has failed to deliver more clear-cut Republican gains, two sources said.
Texas is a particular concern. Republicans redrew the state’s congressional map to gain seats, but the strategy relies in part on Hispanic voters turning out as they did for the 2024 election. Opinion polls suggest that support may be difficult to replicate amid concerns about the cost of living and Trump’s handling of the economy. Some Republicans fear the new boundaries could backfire, leaving incumbents more vulnerable instead of giving the party an advantage.
“The redistricting diced up the Trump voters too much,” one of the sources said.
Trump had said Blair was expected to return to the White House after the midterms, describing his departure as a “short leave of absence.” But two sources said his return was now unlikely. “He’s not coming back. That is not happening,” one of them said.
It was less clear how things would play out for Wiles, who played a central role in Trump’s 2024 victory and has been credited by Trump allies and aides with bringing greater discipline to his White House in his second term.
Trump “may be annoyed at certain things but she has effectively kept that machine going,” a fourth source close to the White House said.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose, Steve Holland and Bo Erickson in Washington; Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Howard Goller)
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