Trump snarls GOP’s midterm message 

House Republicans have spent months scrambling to unite around a midterm strategy that will keep them in the majority following November’s elections. In just the last two weeks, President Trump has made their task much tougher. 

On the messaging front, the president’s attacks on Iran have muddled his “America First” mantra and caused the price of gas to spike — with other staples expected to follow — undermining a promise to slash consumer costs that Republicans were hoping to take to voters in this year’s campaign.

The massive price tag of the war has challenged Trump’s vow to shrink deficits, avoid foreign entanglements and dedicate taxpayer dollars to domestic problems. 

And on Capitol Hill, Trump is newly demanding that Congress pass tougher voting laws before he’ll sign anything else — an extraordinary challenge to his own party’s leaders that threatens to bring the GOP’s legislative plans to a screeching halt heading into the midterms.

The combination is posing new headaches for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and his leadership team, who were already struggling to unite a fractious conference behind a midterm strategy in a tough cycle when a record number of GOP incumbents are abandoning their seats. 

Those tensions were all on display last week during the Republicans’ annual issues conference, held at Trump’s golf resort in Doral, Fla., where lawmakers gathered to hash out a legislative blueprint for the coming months. Before the event could begin, Trump threw a wrench in those talks by threatening to withhold his signature from any legislation until Congress sends tougher voting rules to his desk — a message he amplified on the first night of the gathering. 

“The people are demanding it,” Trump told Republicans at Doral. “Every time I go out, save America! Save America! We want the SAVE America Act! That’s all they talk about. They don’t talk about housing. They don’t talk about anything. That’s what they talk about. And if you send it up there, you will win the midterms and you will win every election for a long time.”

The House has already passed the bill. And Johnson downplayed the significance of Trump’s ultimatum, noting in a fireside chat with NBC News during the retreat that, under the Constitution, a bill........

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