As the GOP’s chances of retaining the House appear to be growing smaller and now even their hopes of holding on to the Senate majority could be “at risk,” elected Republicans and GOP strategists are reportedly frustrated with President Donald Trump’s level of interest in the 2026 midterms. They are waiting to see how he plans to disburse funds from his $300 million war chest, and his valuable endorsements.

“There’s only one person in the world who’s going to make that decision and we can’t wait,” U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), running in a tight primary, told The Washington Post as he waits to learn if he will be granted Trump’s endorsement.

Privately, there is “rising frustration” among Republicans with President Trump and his team’s “apparent lack of urgency,” the Post notes, citing sources.

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“Republicans are anxiously awaiting a clear picture of the Trump team’s plans as the president’s sagging approval ratings and Democratic overperformances in special elections have darkened the GOP’s outlook for November’s midterms,” the Post reported.

Senate Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune, have been “frustrated by Trump’s treatment of Senate incumbents, according to two people familiar with the tensions.”

According to the Post, people who have spoken with Trump “about these obstacles said he at times can sound detached and noncommittal about his plans for spending and endorsements. One person close to the White House said some days the president seems not to care.”

National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) “said a recent Fox News poll giving Democrats a 6-point advantage in House races would put all nine Senate battlegrounds up for grabs, according to two people present” at a presentation to the Republican Senate caucus last week.

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President Donald Trump, his team, and his allies are “saboteurs” who are “wrecking” all the institutions that brought America prosperity and prestige, says a fascism expert who warns that the president may take action to disrupt — or even cancel —a future election.

Dr. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a professor of history and a scholar of fascism, is an expert on authoritarianism and strongmen. She spoke with Politicon’s James Carville and Al Hunt on Friday.

When asked whether it is “accurate” to call Trump a fascist, Dr. Ben-Ghiat replied, “He’s got many fascist qualities, and they’re recycling Nazi slogans now,” she observed.

Trump, she continued, “made a campaign video that said that he was going to — he was going to create a ‘unified Reich.'”

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“They’re taking from the fascist playbook,” she added, noting that they “love” Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and “all autocrats.”

“They are trying their best to have an authoritarian state and destroy our democracy,’ she warned.

Ben-Ghiat agreed that she is worried that Trump would try to do something to intervene in the elections, perhaps by not holding one.

The “more they feel backed into a corner,” she observed, “and these are people, these strong men, who live in fear of being — getting into a position where they can be held accountable.”

“It’s inconceivable that he would just leave office normally,” she noted. “So you can’t underestimate what they’re going to do.”

“It could be the Insurrection Act, it could be trying to have a state — some kind of state emergency to cancel the election,” she said. “ICE could be used in violent ways or intimidating ways to get people to stay home.”

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“All kinds of tricks could be used.”

“They’re not gonna give up without a fight,” she warned.

Ben-Ghiat also said, “I have been saying since February — and people thought I was like a conspiracy theorist — that Trump and company are saboteurs.”

“They’re trying to sabotage America so thoroughly that it’ll be wrecked for generations, and that’s why they’re wrecking medical research, scientific research, child welfare. All the things that brought America prosperity and prestige in the world have to be wrecked.”

“I truly see Trump as in office in part to solve Putin’s problems. And to make autocracy flourish.”

“He’s trying to take down America in every way. So that it has its role in the Western hemisphere, and then Xi can do his thing in Asia, and Putin can prosper, and all the failed, horrible states can have a new life, because the U.S. military or the U.S. — they’re not gonna come after them.”

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President Donald Trump, in what appeared to be an attempt to pressure two major cable news networks, warned against booking two prominent former officials from his first administration.

Trump targeted CNN and MS NOW — formerly MSNBC, which he called “MSDNC” — while denouncing attorney Ty Cobb, a former member of the White House legal team who reported directly to the president, and former Department of Homeland Security Chief of Staff Miles Taylor.

The president called Cobb “one of the Worst Lawyers in Washington, D.C.,” and a “WHACKJOB, who I hardly knew,” and said Taylor is “another major Loser … who I have no idea who he is.”

He charged that both “make livings talking about me like they know me well.”

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“So, when you watch these two guys on Television, which, fortunately, doesn’t happen often because there’s very little audience at either CNN or MSDNC,” he wrote, “remember, they know nothing about me — Just two DOPES trying to make a ‘buck’ by pretending to know something about someone who turned out to be very famous.”

Trump already was the president when they served in his administration.

“These two Networks are forewarned not to put them on the air again, because they have no knowledge or credibility with respect to anything have [sic] to do with DONALD J. TRUMP.”

Last month, Cobb “claimed President Trump is experiencing a ‘significant decline’ in his mental faculties,” according to The Hill.

“I think the dementia and the cognitive decline are, you know, palpable, as do many experts, including many physicians,” Cobb said.

Trump’s social media post came just about the same time that he or someone with access to his social media account deleted what many, including several prominent Republicans, denounced as a racist meme that depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.

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