Rove warns Trump-centered strategy could benefit Democrats
Robert Reich, the former US secretary of labor, argues in a Guardian opinion column published Tuesday that President Donald Trump will deploy more than $400 million held by his flagship Super PAC on self-promotion rather than on Republican midterm candidates. The column synthesizes reporting Reich cites documenting friction between Trump and Republican strategists over the president’s role in the 2026 campaign.
According to Reich, Maga Inc — Trump’s flagship Super PAC — held more than $400 million on hand as of July 31, larger than the cash reserves of any of the major party committees. On Friday, Trump said he would personally weigh where to direct support, including toward Republican candidates he believes can win competitive races. Reich argues the deployment has lagged because Trump has missed the chance to lock in lower advance ad rates and “define candidates before attitudes harden.”
The non-profit arm of Trump’s political operation, Securing American Greatness, has already spent about $1 million on its first round of midterm ads, set to air nationwide, featuring video clips of Trump discussing tax breaks in his domestic spending legislation and lower prices for eggs and prescription drugs, Reich reports.
In early August, Trump told advisers they should follow the same strategy as the Democrats — making the election about him, according to Reich’s column. Karl Rove, who served as senior adviser and deputy chief of staff under President George W. Bush, argues that such an approach benefits Democrats, as Reich reports. Multiple polls show Trump’s approval rating “mired in the mid-30 percent range,” at or near historic lows for a president facing a midterm election, Reich writes.
Trump also plans to travel the country holding rallies like he did during his presidential campaigns. Peter Doocy, a Fox News senior White House correspondent, has heard “whispers of a ton of Trump travel in October, possibly as much as a Trump rally a day” in competitive states and districts, according to Reich’s column.
Rove, as quoted by Reich, warns that Trump’s rallies risk distracting from down-ballot Republicans. “Trump is never disciplined. He’ll have no script, saying whatever comes to mind. His crazy comments will dominate the news, locally and nationally. Republican candidates will constantly have to fend off questions about whether they agree with his latest insult or half-baked idea,” Rove wrote, as Reich reports.
Some battleground Republicans have asked Trump’s staff to keep the president away from their districts ahead of November, according to four Republican operatives involved in the conversations, as reported in Reich’s column. “We’ve told them he cannot come,” one senior Republican involved in a district where Trump won by double digits in the last election told reporters, according to Reich’s column. “Candidly, he would not be helpful here … I do not believe they would send him without our OK. And if they did, we probably wouldn’t campaign with him.”
Republican pollsters have told candidates in tight races to limit their references to Trump, according to Reich’s column.
Reich writes that Trump’s reticence to spend the money on Republican candidates reflects what he describes as the president’s “giant, towering, malignant narcissism,” arguing that Trump will use the campaign cash to make himself look better rather than to support the party. Rove and other “Republican functionaries” are urging Trump to “act more presidential” by directing the Super PACs’ $403 million toward Republican candidates rather than a campaign focused on himself, Reich reports.
Reich is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Guardian US columnist. His column is published in the Guardian’s Comment is Free opinion section. His new book, “Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America,” is out now in the US and UK.