Trump Worries GOP Insiders as They Await Help From His Super PAC for Midterms

Some Republicans are reportedly worried that President Donald Trump is waiting far too long to use funds from his super PAC “war chest” to help them in the midterms — that is, if he decides to help them much at all.

Trump has stated that he intends to aid Republicans in this year’s congressional races, with the aim of helping them retain control of Congress and defeat Democrats at the polls in November. But his comments suggest that he may wait too long to get involved — and that if he does get involved, he may not focus on the races so much as on himself.

“I’m going to take the final 30 days, and maybe a little bit more than that, because it’s all about 35 races. I’m going to go to every one of those 35 places, and we’re going to see if we can get everyone elected,” Trump said at a recent White House dinner.

But waiting until the final month of the campaign is a huge political gamble. Indeed, in the 2018 midterms, 63 percent of voters said they had already made up their minds on which party they planned to support more than 30 days out from the election, a CNN exit poll from that election year demonstrated, while in the 2022 midterms, 68 percent said they made their picks by that point.

Traditionally, Labor Day is considered the unofficial start of the general election season for midterms. But Securing American Greatness, the nonprofit arm of Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC, has only released a few ads so far.

Those ads do not focus on the midterms so much as on touting Trump’s supposed accomplishments. For example, one of the ads features Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White giving immense praise to Trump. However, the ad makes zero mention of congressional candidates, and centers upon the executive branch’s achievements, failing to provide reasons why voters should back Republicans at ballot boxes this fall.

Another ad touts the “One Big Beautiful Bill” that Trump and Republicans passed into law in 2025. But the ad minimizes congressional Republicans’ role in its passage while celebrating executive orders Trump has signed, which have nothing to do with Congress, let alone GOP candidates for office.

Trump’s advisers have told concerned Republican allies that his MAGA Inc. PAC will help them soon. But the process could require time, if Trump decides to make ads for specific candidates, as federal law requires that he approve each one individually.

Sources speaking to The Washington Post with knowledge of Trump’s thinking said that he doesn’t have much interest in spending a significant portion of his $400 million super PAC funds on the midterms. Instead, Trump could spend the money on himself or his future pet projects, including his post-presidential travel, his presidential library (which is set to cost at least $1 billion), or even to influence the next presidential election.

The current round of ads produced by Trump also worry Republican insiders, who view the spots that center on the president as problematic and likely to harm their chances in the midterms rather than help them, as his current approval ratings are some of the lowest he’s ever seen in office.

“They think he’s popular or something. He’s not,” one Republican ad producer told the Post.

Trump has made clear that he wants to be the main focus of this year’s races.

“What I really want you to do is pretend, please, that I’m on the ballot,” he told voters at a campaign rally last month.

But Trump’s approval ratings are indeed dismally low, legitimizing Republicans’ concerns that he could drag them down in key battleground races if those races become about him.

According to an Economist/YouGov poll published on Tuesday, only 36 percent of Americans approve of the job Trump has done as president, while 60 percent disapprove.

Republican candidates in the midterms aren’t faring well either. As of Thursday, according to an aggregate of polling data from FiftyPlusOne, Democrats are the preferred choice of voters over GOP candidates by about 6 percentage points — enough to likely win control of the House of Representatives, and potentially the Senate as well.

Trump has insisted (without proof) polls showing that Americans disapprove of him are “fake,” even going so far as to suggest that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should punish news media that report on them. Such statements could be an attempt to lay the groundwork for skirting the blame should Republicans lose the midterms despite his endorsement.

In early August, Trump told Punchbowl News that he recognizes voters may not opt for a Republican-led Congress for the second half of his second term in office, but that it wouldn’t be his fault if they lost to Democrats.

Voters are “angry at Republicans. But they’re not angry at me,” he claimed. “They’re not angry at me, but they are angry at Republicans.”