Here Comes Trouble
Turns out Trump can’t fill a room like he used to
BY DAN RATHER AND TEAM STEADY
It’s not uncommon for presidents to campaign for their party during the midterm elections, up to a point. Historically, a president will step out to support a candidate, not smother them. They show up for big events and wave the flag for the party. What they don’t do is steal a candidate’s thunder or make it all about them. In other words, act “presidential,” as it used to be known.
That is not how Donald Trump operates.
This president has decided to barnstorm the country, whether Republican candidates like it or not. Trump has held 17 rallies of late, and five more are on the calendar before Election Day. He is running what amounts to a kind of traveling circus. In it, he is a combination carnival barker and ringmaster. He is not just a star, he is the only star.
The president’s popularity has fallen off a cliff. In reaction, he is now demonstrating that he believes only political rallies can save the Republican Party, and himself.
“There’s never been any president [who] has campaigned like this for the midterms,” Trump told a rally crowd in Kentucky. Perhaps that is because there has never been a president who has been less popular and who still needs a pliant Republican majority. He showed little interest in the midterms until recently. Now he is acting like a desperate man.
You might not believe the polls — and you have every reason to be skeptical – but they are telling evidence that Trump could be in trouble. Not just among Democrats and independents but also among some Republicans.
The campaign rally has been a hallmark of Trump’s political career. Starting in 2015, he has held hundreds of big, boisterous gatherings, drawing huge crowds. The events excited his growing coalition while feeding his ego.
Fast forward to 2026, and the tenor and energy of the rallies has shifted. The venues are smaller because the crowds have dwindled. A local hockey arena in Youngstown, Ohio, with a capacity of 7,000 was half full for a rally last week, according to Semafor. Though, of course, Trump denies this. “I never have empty seats — Never have, and never will!” He went on to demand that The New York Times be arrested for claiming his rallies are not well attended.
He can’t get through a speech without being interrupted by hecklers, according to British newspaper The Independent. At an event on Tuesday, he angrily compared the hecklers to violent rioters in France.
His stump speeches are not tailored to the candidate for whom he is campaigning. They are a rambling dissertation on him, and an excuse to be fawned over. “When you stand up here, it’s just like, the love. I could say the stupidest things and you’d clap,” he told those gathered at a rally in Tennessee.
The location of the rallies is a red flag as well, because they are being held in ruby-red districts. It is as though he is demanding to campaign but also hoping to do so where there are full houses and absolute adulation. What’s the White House to do? Rather than send him to battlegrounds, where neither the reception nor the crowd size is guaranteed, he is holding rallies in places like Lubbock, Texas, which he won by 39 points in 2024.
Trump is either going to or has already been to Ohio, Alaska, South Carolina, Kansas, Iowa, Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, and Montana — all states he won, many by double digits. He even went to North Carolina and Georgia, where the Republican National Committee has thrown in the towel, conceding those Senate seats to Democrats.
Since many of his policies are as unpopular as he is, Trump is trying to buy his way to winning the midterms. Besides his ludicrous pledge of $5,000 to every American if Republicans keep control of the House and Senate, he is making promises — some would call them bribes, or quid pro quo — to get his party elected. He will promise to give you X if you elect Y Republican. He is trying to enact these loyalty tests all over the country.
In North Carolina, he promised to direct the Justice Department to settle “all remaining legitimate claims” from suits involving contaminated water at Camp Lejeune. “If we don’t win, there’s no money. If we do win, you are getting it, and it is going to be finally over with,” Trump said at a recent rally in Jacksonville.
He pledged that “if the Republicans win, the Department of War will be investing $100 million in the pharmaceutical company Antheia to revitalize a gigantic drug manufacturing facility in Winchester, Kentucky.”
In Kansas, he promised to remove federal bans on the sale of fuel blended with ethanol, which is made from Kansas corn and grain. “With Roger Marshall in the Senate, we will make year-round E15 permanent. But if Adam Hamilton is in, I’m not going to do it. That’s it.”
He has promised expanded high-speed internet in Alaska, but only if Dan Sullivan wins. In Ohio, he will “strongly consider” building the future home of the Space Force Academy if Jon Husted retains his seat. He has offered millions in additional disaster relief in Iowa and Kentucky if their Senate seats remain Republican.
All those promises cost money, taxpayer money — and that money would be going to economic incentives, which is a tacit admission that the affordability crisis is not, in fact, a hoax.
Trump is quicker to anger these days, and once angry his verbal lashes are nastier, especially with the media. To one of his favorite punching bags, Kaitlan Collins of CNN, he had this to say when she questioned him about lifting Russian sanctions: “You don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re a low-IQ person. You’re a dummy and you work for CNN.”
On Tuesday he went after Andrew Feinberg, a reporter for The Independent. Trump and Feinberg had debated a new whistleblower tip line. Ten minutes later, the reporter asked about Trump’s renovation plans for a local D.C. golf course and was met with, “I don’t know who the hell you are, but you better be careful.” Then an enraged Trump barked, “Quiet. QUIET! What’s wrong with you? Are you a sick person? I actually think there’s something wrong with you.” After which the White House removed Feinberg from the traveling press pool.
Trump has also sicced his Federal Communications Commission chair on campaign coverage he doesn’t like. On Wednesday, Brendan Carr threatened broadcasters that he says don’t vet their polling.
In a social media post, he warned, “Broadcasters are advised to avoid engaging in News Distortions or running Broadcast Hoaxes by airing Polls that would violate their regulatory obligations.” While he gave no examples, it should be noted that it is not the role of the FCC to police polling or any news coverage that is done in good faith.
It is the prerogative of many politicians to bend the truth or spin the narrative to their advantage. Outright lying — especially lies that are easily debunked — is less common. Unless you are Trump or one of his enablers. Case in point: JD Vance’s defense of his boss.
During a town hall on CBS last week, Vance had the headspinning audacity to say, “Yes, D.C. is a corrupt town. Donald Trump, I have not seen a single shred of evidence that he participates or sanctions in that corruption.” Then he added for emphasis, “I have not once seen evidence that Donald Trump has enriched himself.”
Really? No evidence? How much time do you have, Mr. Vice President?
Many would say Trump is getting what he deserves — trying to upsell his hokum and hoodwink supporters who have been lied to for a decade into continuing this charade.
On November 3 we’ll see if all the broken promises matter, if the corruption is too much, and if the power of Trump’s personality has finally faded. Win or lose, his is now more than ever a one-man show. He hasn’t lost yet, but metaphorically his back is against the wall, his shirttail is on fire, and bill collectors are at the door.
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Stay Steady,
Dan
NYA Thanks Dan Rather and Team Steady!