Become an Independent member to bookmark this article

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today.

Join today

Already a member? Log in

At a rally in Kentucky on Saturday, President Donald Trump reprised familiar attacks on Democrats and predicted a strong Republican showing in the midterm elections. But privately, he has reportedly blamed his aides as polls signal trouble ahead.

In a roughly 90-minute speech in Highland Heights, Trump launched into familiar territory, deriding Democrats as “lunatics” and communists intent on allowing men to compete in women’s sports and letting immigrants enter the country illegally.

“Who the hell is voting for these people?” Trump asked. “They’re gonna annihilate your borders, decimate Kentucky farms and energies, mutilate your children and give 25 million illegal aliens the right to vote,” he said. Praising a slate of GOP congressional candidates, he added: “The Republican Party is starting to look pretty good.”

Behind closed doors, though, the 80-year-old president has struck a different tone, blaming aides and political operatives for a wobbling midterm strategy and voicing doubts about candidate choices, Reuters reported Saturday.

With the November elections just weeks away, multiple polls suggest Republicans could suffer steep losses, potentially surrendering their congressional majorities amid voter frustration over the cost of living and the war in Iran. This week, Fox News projected for the first time that Democrats appear poised to retake control of the House of Representatives.

Despite publicly projecting confidence in Republicans’ midterm prospects and dismissing Democratic candidates as easy to beat, Trump has privately expressed frustration with aides over the campaign.

He has singled out James Blair, who runs the PAC MAGA Inc., questioning his handling of campaign funds and why that spending has failed to improve polling numbers, Reuters reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has also drawn criticism, with some officials questioning her oversight of the midterm strategy.

“What's really happening is a circular firing squad,” one source said.

But a White House spokesperson dismissed the report, calling the sources “armchair experts peddling their baseless speculation.”

The president has also dismissed reports about Wiles. “Susie Wiles is my loyal and longest serving Chief of Staff — there is a reason for that,” he said this week. “She has been with me since the beginning, is my trusted advisor, and has my COMPLETE confidence.”

Trump devoted much of his speech at Saturday’s rally to attacking Democrats, whom he derisively calls “Dumocrats.”

He singled out several candidates, mocking Texas Senate candidate James Talarico as “Talafreako” and calling Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El Sayed a “jihadist.” He also accused his predecessor, Joe Biden, of ushering in a “dark age” in which “they weaponized our government.”

Elsewhere during his speech, which a protester briefly interrupted, Trump touted his administration’s accomplishments, including what he described as record-setting economic gains.

“It was just announced that under Republican leadership, incomes have soared to the highest level ever,” he said, adding that the “poverty rate has just reached the best number we've ever had.”

Trump suggested the economic figures were so strong that a lengthy speech was unnecessary. “So I can stand up here and bull**** for two hours,” he said. “Sometimes, I really think when I have these numbers, I say, you know, let’s just get the hell out of here.”

Still, he said he was working hard to boost GOP turnout, pointing to recent rallies in several states where he has urged supporters to vote as though he were on the ballot.

“There's never been any president that's campaigned like this for the midterms,” Trump told the crowd. “They'll say he was terrible. He campaigned terribly. If I do make it, if we win, I will get absolutely no credit. They'll say the candidates were spectacular. But what the hell? I have to do it anyway.”