Trump returns home to drum up voter support for GOP candidates ahead of midterms

President Trump returns to the U.S. ready to rally on behalf of Republican candidates as the midterm election enters its crucial fall stretch.

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST: All right, it's officially midterm campaign season. President Trump pledged to visit dozens of Republican candidates nationwide ahead of the November elections to drum up voter enthusiasm. LEILA FADEL, HOST: But the war in Iran and sky-high gasoline prices contribute to a tough political environment for the incumbent party. MARTÍNEZ: NPR's senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson has been watching the dynamics. Mara, so the president, at the Republican convention in Dallas last week, pledged to give every American 5,000 bucks if Republicans win in November. What have you seen as a response? MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: The response has been surprisingly tepid, even among Republicans. Some Republicans worry that even if Congress would approve such a payout because the president can't just send those checks himself. It would cost more than a trillion dollars, and that would add to the historically high national debt unless it was paid for by raising taxes or budget cuts. And then there's the question about credibility - do voters think they would get those checks? Trump has made so many unfulfilled campaign promises. He promised to give Americans a $5,000 DOGE dividend, a $2,000 tariff rebate. He promised no foreign wars, that inflation and high prices would come down as soon as he took office. And none of those things have happened. And Trump got asked yesterday if Congress would need to approve the checks. He was at a brief press conference in Ireland. Here's what he said. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't know. But it's easy enough if the Republicans win, as I said. MARTÍNEZ: Now, Vice President JD Vance also headlined the convention as a potential inheritor of Trump's MAGA support base. What stood out from his remarks? LIASSON: Well, that's right. Vance is preparing for a 2028 presidential run of his own. Republicans are watching to see if he can develop the same deep emotional bond with the MAGA base that Trump has. Some people have called it a cult of personality. But he was also in Dallas to deliver the 2026 Republican message. He ticked through the Trump administration's accomplishments - closing the border, drop in violent crime, a rollback of taxes - but he was mostly focused in that message on the failings of Democrats. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) JD VANCE: The Democrats are the party of hatred. They're the party that despises America and the people who built it. LIASSON: Vance and Republicans are counting on negative partisanship to motivate voters with that negative message. The idea is that mostly nowadays, voters go into the polling booth to vote to stop someone from winning, not necessarily because they're thrilled about who they're voting for. The other thing that struck me about Vance's speech was that he did not name the big elephant in the room - the war in Iran, which is very unpopular, even with Republicans. MARTÍNEZ: Now, what are you watching in the coming weeks when it comes to the dynamics for each party? LIASSON: Well, I think there are two competing forces at work here. One is the kind of organic environmental forces. Democrats have a lot of enthusiasm. Their turnout has been higher. They're angry about the economy. Trump himself is unpopular. Quinnipiac's poll had him last week as low as 33%. His policies are unpopular - tariffs, the war in Iran, data centers, AI safety, the use of Flock cameras. Normally, when we see this, we would say there's a blue wave forming, but Republicans have a lot of structural advantages, including much, much more money, which they're beginning to spend now, partisan gerrymandering which let them create more safe Republican seats, and this big confusion over mail-in ballots which could end up decreasing the number of votes. And what I'm watching for is to see whether these structural factors and the fact that the Democratic Party brand is so bad help Republicans hang on in what is a very grim political environment for them. MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's NPR's Mara Liasson. Mara, thanks a lot. LIASSON: You're welcome. Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST: All right, it's officially midterm campaign season. President Trump pledged to visit dozens of Republican candidates nationwide ahead of the November elections to drum up voter enthusiasm. LEILA FADEL, HOST: But the war in Iran and sky-high gasoline prices contribute to a tough political environment for the incumbent party. MARTÍNEZ: NPR's senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson has been watching the dynamics. Mara, so the president, at the Republican convention in Dallas last week, pledged to give every American 5,000 bucks if Republicans win in November. What have you seen as a response? MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: The response has been surprisingly tepid, even among Republicans. Some Republicans worry that even if Congress would approve such a payout because the president can't just send those checks himself. It would cost more than a trillion dollars, and that would add to the historically high national debt unless it was paid for by raising taxes or budget cuts. And then there's the question about credibility - do voters think they would get those checks? Trump has made so many unfulfilled campaign promises. He promised to give Americans a $5,000 DOGE dividend, a $2,000 tariff rebate. He promised no foreign wars, that inflation and high prices would come down as soon as he took office. And none of those things have happened. And Trump got asked yesterday if Congress would need to approve the checks. He was at a brief press conference in Ireland. Here's what he said. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't know. But it's easy enough if the Republicans win, as I said. MARTÍNEZ: Now, Vice President JD Vance also headlined the convention as a potential inheritor of Trump's MAGA support base. What stood out from his remarks? LIASSON: Well, that's right. Vance is preparing for a 2028 presidential run of his own. Republicans are watching to see if he can develop the same deep emotional bond with the MAGA base that Trump has. Some people have called it a cult of personality. But he was also in Dallas to deliver the 2026 Republican message. He ticked through the Trump administration's accomplishments - closing the border, drop in violent crime, a rollback of taxes - but he was mostly focused in that message on the failings of Democrats. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) JD VANCE: The Democrats are the party of hatred. They're the party that despises America and the people who built it. LIASSON: Vance and Republicans are counting on negative partisanship to motivate voters with that negative message. The idea is that mostly nowadays, voters go into the polling booth to vote to stop someone from winning, not necessarily because they're thrilled about who they're voting for. The other thing that struck me about Vance's speech was that he did not name the big elephant in the room - the war in Iran, which is very unpopular, even with Republicans. MARTÍNEZ: Now, what are you watching in the coming weeks when it comes to the dynamics for each party? LIASSON: Well, I think there are two competing forces at work here. One is the kind of organic environmental forces. Democrats have a lot of enthusiasm. Their turnout has been higher. They're angry about the economy. Trump himself is unpopular. Quinnipiac's poll had him last week as low as 33%. His policies are unpopular - tariffs, the war in Iran, data centers, AI safety, the use of Flock cameras. Normally, when we see this, we would say there's a blue wave forming, but Republicans have a lot of structural advantages, including much, much more money, which they're beginning to spend now, partisan gerrymandering which let them create more safe Republican seats, and this big confusion over mail-in ballots which could end up decreasing the number of votes. And what I'm watching for is to see whether these structural factors and the fact that the Democratic Party brand is so bad help Republicans hang on in what is a very grim political environment for them. MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's NPR's Mara Liasson. Mara, thanks a lot. LIASSON: You're welcome. Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

All right, it's officially midterm campaign season. President Trump pledged to visit dozens of Republican candidates nationwide ahead of the November elections to drum up voter enthusiasm. LEILA FADEL, HOST: But the war in Iran and sky-high gasoline prices contribute to a tough political environment for the incumbent party. MARTÍNEZ: NPR's senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson has been watching the dynamics. Mara, so the president, at the Republican convention in Dallas last week, pledged to give every American 5,000 bucks if Republicans win in November. What have you seen as a response? MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: The response has been surprisingly tepid, even among Republicans. Some Republicans worry that even if Congress would approve such a payout because the president can't just send those checks himself. It would cost more than a trillion dollars, and that would add to the historically high national debt unless it was paid for by raising taxes or budget cuts. And then there's the question about credibility - do voters think they would get those checks? Trump has made so many unfulfilled campaign promises. He promised to give Americans a $5,000 DOGE dividend, a $2,000 tariff rebate. He promised no foreign wars, that inflation and high prices would come down as soon as he took office. And none of those things have happened. And Trump got asked yesterday if Congress would need to approve the checks. He was at a brief press conference in Ireland. Here's what he said. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't know. But it's easy enough if the Republicans win, as I said. MARTÍNEZ: Now, Vice President JD Vance also headlined the convention as a potential inheritor of Trump's MAGA support base. What stood out from his remarks? LIASSON: Well, that's right. Vance is preparing for a 2028 presidential run of his own. Republicans are watching to see if he can develop the same deep emotional bond with the MAGA base that Trump has. Some people have called it a cult of personality. But he was also in Dallas to deliver the 2026 Republican message. He ticked through the Trump administration's accomplishments - closing the border, drop in violent crime, a rollback of taxes - but he was mostly focused in that message on the failings of Democrats. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) JD VANCE: The Democrats are the party of hatred. They're the party that despises America and the people who built it. LIASSON: Vance and Republicans are counting on negative partisanship to motivate voters with that negative message. The idea is that mostly nowadays, voters go into the polling booth to vote to stop someone from winning, not necessarily because they're thrilled about who they're voting for. The other thing that struck me about Vance's speech was that he did not name the big elephant in the room - the war in Iran, which is very unpopular, even with Republicans. MARTÍNEZ: Now, what are you watching in the coming weeks when it comes to the dynamics for each party? LIASSON: Well, I think there are two competing forces at work here. One is the kind of organic environmental forces. Democrats have a lot of enthusiasm. Their turnout has been higher. They're angry about the economy. Trump himself is unpopular. Quinnipiac's poll had him last week as low as 33%. His policies are unpopular - tariffs, the war in Iran, data centers, AI safety, the use of Flock cameras. Normally, when we see this, we would say there's a blue wave forming, but Republicans have a lot of structural advantages, including much, much more money, which they're beginning to spend now, partisan gerrymandering which let them create more safe Republican seats, and this big confusion over mail-in ballots which could end up decreasing the number of votes. And what I'm watching for is to see whether these structural factors and the fact that the Democratic Party brand is so bad help Republicans hang on in what is a very grim political environment for them. MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's NPR's Mara Liasson. Mara, thanks a lot. LIASSON: You're welcome. Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

All right, it's officially midterm campaign season. President Trump pledged to visit dozens of Republican candidates nationwide ahead of the November elections to drum up voter enthusiasm. LEILA FADEL, HOST: But the war in Iran and sky-high gasoline prices contribute to a tough political environment for the incumbent party. MARTÍNEZ: NPR's senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson has been watching the dynamics. Mara, so the president, at the Republican convention in Dallas last week, pledged to give every American 5,000 bucks if Republicans win in November. What have you seen as a response? MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: The response has been surprisingly tepid, even among Republicans. Some Republicans worry that even if Congress would approve such a payout because the president can't just send those checks himself. It would cost more than a trillion dollars, and that would add to the historically high national debt unless it was paid for by raising taxes or budget cuts. And then there's the question about credibility - do voters think they would get those checks? Trump has made so many unfulfilled campaign promises. He promised to give Americans a $5,000 DOGE dividend, a $2,000 tariff rebate. He promised no foreign wars, that inflation and high prices would come down as soon as he took office