Republican National Committee leadership is staring at a “five-alarm fire bell,” conservative analyst Henry Olsen warns, as President Donald Trump’s sinking poll numbers put the GOP’s Senate majority at risk in November.

“The Republicans’ Senate fortunes,” Olsen writes at The Washington Post, “are tied to the man in the Oval Office. If the president can recover his standing even a few points, the GOP will probably retain Senate control. But all bets are off if he remains as unpopular as he is now.”

Olsen, a longtime Republican strategist and a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, explains that at the start of the year the road map for Democrats looked daunting. They had to gain four Senate seats to win the majority, while holding three open seats — Minnesota, New Hampshire and Michigan — that were seen as “far from safe.”

At best, the “most politically favorable remaining states” on the Senate map — Ohio, Iowa and Alaska — “were all carried by Trump by over 10 points. Democrats have not won a Senate seat in a state that red since 2018, when Jon Tester prevailed in Montana and Joe Manchin carried West Virginia.”

The tables have turned, and now it is Republicans who are facing an uphill battle.

Democrats are “leading or statistically tied in all of the seats they need to retain,” and “also lead or are statistically tied in six GOP-held states: Alaska, Iowa, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas.”

Plus, retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the expected Democratic nominee for Senate in Florida, is ahead of Republican U.S. Senator Ashley Moody, according to one recent poll.

Of course, as Olsen suggests, the campaigns have yet to get into full swing, there is still time, and the Democrats’ Maine nominee, Graham Platner, could be seen as a wild card.

“Perhaps Platner’s troubles will allow Collins to equal or slightly surpass her earlier result, but even then, the vast majority of her support will come from Trump approvers,” says Olsen. “If that total is under 40 percent, as it surely is right now, Collins probably won’t win.”

“But surely no one in the Republican high command thought they would be trailing or tied in 10 critical Senate races at this stage,” writes Olsen. “That sound you hear is a five-alarm fire bell at GOP HQ.”

In today’s polarized era, Olsen notes, many voters back their party rather than the candidate — and a party whose leader is underwater on most key issues weighs on every candidate on the ticket.

Image via Reuters 

President Donald Trump arrived late to Wednesday’s G7 summit, crossed the room where world leaders were already seated and had started their meeting, and offered an excuse before joining the group: “I’m the boss.”

According to The Daily Beast, Trump’s colleagues “laughed awkwardly” at his “crass joke.”

President Emmanuel Macron, who is hosting the meeting in Évian-les-Bains, France, greeted President Trump by saying, “Well, hello.” Trump — who was nearly one hour late — turned and faced the table before making his declaration.

“A self-satisfied smile flashed across Trump’s face after he delivered his one-liner, as he walked around to his seat next to Macron, who greeted Trump with a more restrained handshake,” The Daily Beast reported.

“Hello! How are you?” Macron asked.

Trump also invited members of the media to stay for the meeting, although they were later ushered out of the room.

“Would you like to stay for the meeting? It’s OK with me,” Trump said.

“It’s not clear why Trump was delayed,” The Daily Beast noted. “A White House source claimed to NBC that he had been ‘on some very important calls with people back in the States.'”

Leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom are also in attendance for the G7.

“All have welcomed the news that an agreement has been reached between Washington, D.C., and Iran, saying in a statement that it ‘provides an historic opportunity to prevent Iran from acquiring any nuclear weapon and tackling the threats related to its regional and ballistic activities,'” The Daily Beast reported.

The G7 leaders also released a statement that said, “President Trump has delivered a deal that we support in reopening the Strait of Hormuz.”

Trump also posted a diatribe Wednesday morning attacking Democrats — whom he called “Dumocrats” — in his lengthy Truth Social statement. He declared, “for the Good of the Nation, and the People of our Country, I will not approve FISA without THE SAVE AMERICA ACT going along with it.”

“I’m the boss.” 🤣

— @POTUS arrives for a working session at the G7 summit in France pic.twitter.com/BvAamZo0sD

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 17, 2026

Image via Reuters 

President Donald Trump’s Iran war has divided his MAGA base more than any other issue since he came down the Trump Tower escalator to launch his first presidential campaign, Axios reports. Now, some of his top allies are turning against his Iran deal in a series of denunciations.

“The backlash has been particularly scathing from allies Trump spent months amplifying as validators of his Iran campaign,” Axios reports. The Iran deal has “opened an explosive second front in MAGA’s civil war, waged by hawkish allies who view U.S. concessions as an existential betrayal of Israel.”

The Hill notes that conservative “pundits and hawkish Iran experts are warning against any agreement that gives up key leverage against the Islamic Republic, or opens access to badly needed funds, without completely giving up its nuclear capacity.”

Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen wrote: “$300 billion to Iran under any circumstances is a disaster. Like offer[ing] the Marshall Plan to rebuild Germany while the Nazis were still in power.”

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro told The Wall Street Journal: “If the president signed a bad deal, many of us who cheered and stood by him and thought that his action in Iran was heroic, will be extraordinarily disappointed.”

Many, including pro-Israel conservatives who backed Trump’s war, are now demanding to see the text of the “Memorandum of Understanding” (MOU) with Iran. They are frustrated with both the secrecy behind the deal — the MOU has yet to be officially released — and the reported leaked details.

Senior White House officials had said the text would be released Tuesday or Wednesday, while Trump said Friday — after it is officially signed in a ceremony in Geneva. Vice President JD Vance suggested that the text might be released before Friday, BBC News reported.

Trump’s own remarks have not quelled concern from his top allies, Axios noted.

“We’re dealing with people that I think are very rational people,” Trump said on Tuesday at the G7 summit. “They were nice to deal with.” He called them “strong people, smart people,” and added: “They’re not radicalized. They’re looking to help their country.”

“For hawks who view Iran’s government as a terrorist regime incapable of reform,” Axios reported, “the president’s language deepened their fear that the deal rewards Tehran for surviving the war.”

Vice President Vance may bear more of the ultimate backlash. He will sign the deal in Geneva, while Trump “can always pitch himself as the president who took on Iran when no one else dared.”

Image via Reuters