WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump’s June began with his Bible-clutching photo op outside a church after authorities used chemicals and batons to scatter peaceful demonstrators. It never got less jarring or divisive.
By month’s end, he was downplaying a coronavirus pandemic upsurge that was forcing Western and Southern states to throttle back their partial reopening of businesses. And Republican strategists already straining to retain Senate control in November’s elections were conceding that Trump’s performance could make it harder to defend their majority.
One said key Republicans were telling Trump they’re worried about his campaign and he should heed polls showing him in trouble. Another pointed to surveys showing diminished public optimism and many voters’ views that Trump is poorly managing the surging virus and languishing economy. Still another said Republicans worry the GOP brand of cutting taxes could be overshadowed by Trump’s drive to defend Confederate monuments.
All spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal GOP thinking, and each said Republican prospects for holding the Senate remain viable. Yet their willingness to discuss the problem, plus carefully worded assessments by Republican senators and others in the party, highlight GOP worries about a June that saw Trump feed inflammatory rhetoric to his deeply conservative base, risking support from more moderate voters.
“In all elections, the political environment shapes how things come out, and sometimes you can’t control that,” No. 2 Senate Republican leader John Thune of South Dakota said last week. He said GOP candidates “need to do what they need to do to win. And in some states, he will be a benefit in some parts of the country. In other parts of the country, less so.”