Donald Trump is unpopular. Just 39% of Americans have a favorable view of the president a year and a half into his second term.

Worse yet, Republicans are poised to lose big in the November midterm elections. Trump seems more interested in fighting with Senate leadership than in helping Republicans hold their majorities, and that fight is leaving some in his own party open to moving away from him.

Trump still has a strong grip on the Republican voter base, but the party needs a plan for what happens after he leaves office in 2028. There's no better time to start building it than heading into a likely November beatdown.

Republican lawmakers are starting to question Trump

In early August, an anonymous Republican senator told The Hill that some of his colleagues increasingly see Trump as a liability. Trump's low popularity, combined with how energized he's made Democratic voters, threatens to seriously hurt Republicans in the midterms.

Republican Senate candidates are even or trailing in the polls in a number of states Trump won in 2024, including Alaska, Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas.

Even Nebraska, which Trump won by nearly 20 points, is shaping up to be a........

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