The White House is diving deeper into midterm mode.
Administration officials this month called for a reconciliation between disgruntled factions of the 2024 coalition — from podcaster Joe Rogan to the Make America Health Again bloc. Three Cabinet officials have left the administration in a two-month span, ending more than a year of stability and potentially giving the GOP-controlled Senate time to confirm replacements before a possible transition to the chamber. And President Donald Trump returned to the road last week for a two-day round of base-rally speeches in key battleground states.
Overall, the moves – which come as Chief of Staff Susie Wills convenes a series of strategy meetings, and her deputy, James Blair, takes temporary leave","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/10/james-blair-temporary-departure-trump-political-operation-00867204","_Identification": :"0000019d-b4a5-df3a-a7ff-f4ad19eb0000","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-b4a5-df3a-a7ff-f4ad19eb0001","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>takes temporary leave Monitoring political operations from the outside – reflects the White House’s increased focus on the rapidly approaching midterms. Comes as a ramp-up Decline in President’s poll numbers","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://www.cnn.com/polling/approval/trump-polls","_Identification": :"0000019d-b4a5-df3a-a7ff-f4ad19eb0002","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-b4a5-df3a-a7ff-f4ad19eb0003","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>The President’s polling numbers declined And Republicans are increasingly worried about their midterm prospects — fears confirmed Tuesday night with a loss in the Virginia redistricting fight.
“What you’ve got is Susie and James (Blair), doing whatever blocking and dealing they need to do to put Republicans in the best position,” a person close to the White House said on condition of anonymity to discuss the strategy, which also includes an effort to repair any damage in key 2024 constituencies.
“It’s trying to get the band back together. That’s why the President won in all those battleground states — he put that record coalition together,” the person added. “it is very important.”
Republicans have grown concerned that the president is hurting their election year prospects by creating distractions","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/15/republicans-white-house-nonsense-midterms-00874332","_Identification": :"0000019d-b4a5-df3a-a7ff-f4ad19eb0004","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-b4a5-df3a-a7ff-f4ad19eb0005","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>create distraction War in Iran threatens to eclipse their economic gains and blunt the message of their strength. Trump has been promising a quick end to the war, but talks to resolve the conflict have again stalled.
Trump, at least temporarily, appeased some worried Republicans with midterm-focused speeches in the West last week. After a required five-week hiatus from speeches outside the Beltway, he advocated for the party’s tax cuts and attacked several base-rally topics in his Phoenix speech — from border security to crime and transgender women in women’s sports.
A GOP campaign strategist, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the plan, said these events would accelerate.
“He’s starting to increase it and I think we’re going to see more of it,” the strategist said. “They want to see him there. They want to see him on the road and talking to people in these states.”
In a speech the day after Tax Day, Trump also touted the tax benefits in his megabill and criticized Democrats for voting against it.
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said, “President Trump is the clear leader of the Republican Party and is focused on keeping the American people safe, reducing costs for working families, and making our country greater than ever.” “Last week, Americans across the country received historic tax refunds thanks to President Trump’s One Big Beautiful bill.”
At the White House, the president also held a series of events this month designed to shore up support for key parts of his 2024 coalition that had begun to fall apart. On Saturday, Trump called on Rogan to the Oval Office to issue an executive order to review psychedelic drugs for conditions such as severe depression. Rogan, who is hugely influential among young men and opposes war with Iran, speaks to a growing group of young MAGA loyalists on his podcast","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/28/iran-trump-maga-men-divide-cpac-00849378","_Identification": :"0000019d-b4a5-df3a-a7ff-f4ad19eb0006","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-b4a5-df3a-a7ff-f4ad19eb0007","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>The group of young MAGA loyalists is growing Who feel betrayed by Trump’s actions with Israel in the Middle East.
“There is a group inside the White House that feels that … when the president’s popularity goes down he has to listen to groups,” said a person close to the administration, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
In mid-April, top White House officials, including senior adviser Stephen Miller and press secretary Carolyn Levitt MHA sits for long hearing with advocates","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2026/04/the-white-house-makes-amends-with-maha-00866476","_Identification": :"0000019d-b4a5-df3a-a7ff-f4ad19eb0008","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-b4a5-df3a-a7ff-f4ad19eb0009","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>MHA sits for long hearing with advocatesAfter this Trump visited the Oval Office. While the visit was seen by some of the President’s MHA supporters as merely a start, it was seen as a peace offering to the movement that had helped elect him, after the White House had conceded a victory to the pesticide industry that was against the MHA’s goals.
“It was very open-ended, it was very interactive, and it was just, ‘Tell us what’s resonating with you. What would you like to see happen?'” Alex Clark, one of the MHA influencers invited to the White House, told POLITICO after the meeting. “And everyone was taking notes and really willing to hear what we had to say.”
White House senior adviser Kelly Means said at the Politico Health Care Summit on Tuesday that the White House was eager to hear from the most vocal critics of the administration’s recent order boosting domestic glyphosate production, contrary to the wishes of the MHA. He said the White House asked Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s team to compile the top 10 critics of the order.
“He invited him to the White House. We had a private meeting – two hours, no holds barred, straight talk. And then he spent a lot of time with the president,” Means said. “Inevitably with something with such high stakes, there are going to be disappointments. There are inevitably going to be ups and downs.”
Clark, who before the meeting had been posting to her thousands of followers about the huge losses the GOP would face in the midterms because of Trump’s actions on pesticides, said the meeting was at least a start. “They’re trying to understand,” she said.
And on Tuesday night, a recording of Trump reading a verse from the Old Testament will be released as part of a presentation at the Museum of the Bible — a week after he responded with an AI-generated depiction of himself as Jesus.
Personnel decisions also loom large in the midterms — and the risk that the Senate’s ability to confirm Trump appointees will fall into the hands of Democrats. Trump has enjoyed a quick confirmation process for most Cabinet-level appointments and Republicans have about six months to leverage the majority to confirm replacements, including through recent vacancies at the Justice and Labor departments.
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer steps down amid scandal ","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/20/labor-secretary-chavez-deremer-resign-00737749","_Identification": :"0000019d-b4a5-df3a-a7ff-f4ad19eb000a","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-b4a5-df3a-a7ff-f4ad19eb000b","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>stepped down on Monday amid a series of allegations of misconduct against him and his top staff. His departure follows former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was replaced by Senate-confirmed Secretary Markwayne Mullin, and former Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was replaced by Acting Director Todd Blanch.
A second person close to the White House said, “Timing is critical on these changes because the margins matter in the Senate and with the midterms looming the White House knows it is better to make changes now where we know we can confirm people rather than taking risks later.”
