In the game plan most Republicans envisioned for 2026, message discipline and coordinated action were very important. The party, with strong agreement from its president, was determined to pull a big upset in November by hanging on to control of both congressional chambers, which would be a significant historical anomaly. And by the end of 2025, it was abundantly clear that the keys to the kingdom in the midterms would be the success or failure of GOP efforts to keep the voters who went with them in 2024 out of frustration over the cost of living during the Biden administration. Without much question, the one major “affordability” accomplishment that Trump and his congressional allies could boast of was the middle-class tax cuts nestled between the huge goodies for the wealthy and the low-income benefit cuts of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025.

So it’s alarming for Republicans that they are talking about so many other things right now, as Politico Playbook notes:

President Donald Trump and Republicans had this week highlighted as a crucial moment for the midterms campaign. April 15 should have marked the perfect opportunity for Trump and the GOP to highlight the (largely very popular) tax cuts delivered via the One Big Beautiful Bill last year. Hill Republicans have a big event planned Wednesday, before Trump hits the campaign trail in Nevada and Arizona. What could go wrong?Quite a lot, actually: Trump’s “no tax on tips” PR stunt with a DoorDash employee yesterday was, of course, completely overshadowed by his jaw-dropping attack on the Pope and the furor over his AI-Jesus meme. And in truth it’s going to be hard for Republicans to land any cost-of-living messaging right now, given the economic storm clouds caused by the president’s war on Iran.

President Donald Trump and Republicans had this week highlighted as a crucial moment for the midterms campaign. April 15 should have marked the perfect opportunity for Trump and the GOP to highlight the (largely very popular) tax cuts delivered via the One Big Beautiful Bill last year. Hill Republicans have a big event planned........

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