{"text":[[{"start":6.56,"text":"Top Republicans are worried that Donald Trump is undermining their prospects in the midterm elections, as he brushes off voter concerns over the Iran war, inflation and AI data centres while promoting himself on the campaign trail."}],[{"start":19.7,"text":"The anxiety within Trump’s party comes as Republicans are facing an increasingly uphill battle to retain full control of Congress, with the president’s approval ratings sinking to new lows just two months ahead of the November vote."}],[{"start":32.6,"text":"Trump will try to put a lid on the internal tensions at a two-day Republican midterm convention planned for this week in Dallas, Texas, but some rank-and-file lawmakers have declined to attend as they fear being associated with him."}],[{"start":45.64,"text":"“Members are going back to their districts each week, confronting concerns about affordability and inflation, and you have Trump openly dismissing those affordability concerns,” said Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist and senior partner at Penta Group, a consultancy in Washington. “That has to change,” he added."}],[{"start":62.64,"text":"Doug Heye, a Republican strategist and former party official, said Republicans were in a bind because they had “gone along with everything Trump has asked for” and his slumping approval ratings were now placing them “in a very real place of discomfort”. But they had little ability to influence his actions or comments."}],[{"start":80.28,"text":"“He’s his own favourite topic, and they can’t really do anything about it because of how he is,” Heye said."}],[{"start":null,"text":"
"}],[{"start":85.92,"text":"On Friday, Trump shrugged off the impact of the six-month-long Iran war, which has lasted far longer than anticipated and raised petrol prices for US households and businesses, as “small potatoes” in a comment that forced some Republicans in battleground districts to distance themselves from him."}],[{"start":102.28,"text":"“Any time you are at war or in a military escalation, it is certainly not small potatoes. It is serious,” Mike Lawler, a Republican lawmaker in a competitive re-election battle in the northern New York City suburbs, told CNN on Sunday."}],[{"start":115.64,"text":"Trump has also been lashing out at the increasingly widespread opposition to AI data centres, including among some Republicans, which is emerging as a top voter concern in some races."}],[{"start":125.52,"text":"“If you want to go through poverty, crime and squalor, I would say don’t approve data centres,” Trump said on Friday, after posting similar comments on social media earlier in the week. An NBC News survey published on Sunday found that 69 per cent of Americans oppose data centres in their area, compared with 31 per cent who favour them."}],[{"start":147.56,"text":"Throughout the year, Trump has been battling voter displeasure that he has failed to tame inflation as promised during the 2024 campaign, while launching a war in the Middle East after pledging to limit military interventions overseas."}],[{"start":161.64,"text":"But Trump’s political standing appears to have taken a further turn for the worse in recent weeks, prompting forecasters to cement their expectations that Democrats will win control of the House of Representatives and could even gain a majority in the Senate."}],[{"start":176,"text":"“The sum and cumulative impact of Trump’s second-term baggage seems now to match or exceed those of Presidents Clinton, George W Bush and Obama,” Charlie Cook, the veteran political analyst, wrote in a note last week."}],[{"start":189.6,"text":"One GOP official dismissed suggestions of a rift within Trump’s party, saying they were all “rowing in the same direction”."}],[{"start":197.04,"text":"“With Iran and the data centres, those are obviously presenting some issues for candidates on the trail. But members are largely behind the president’s agenda.”"}],[{"start":205.76,"text":"Republican frustrations with Trump have also been growing over money, since the US president has only very recently started spending some of the $400mn-plus war chest raised through Maga Inc, the super political action committee affiliated with him. The group said in recent days that it will commit $10mn of its funds to support Ken Paxton, the Republican Senate candidate close to Trump, but many Republicans are still unsure whether they will be getting any help and whether it will be too late."}],[{"start":235.36,"text":"“The question is will Trump spend the money that he’s got because it could be very helpful,” says John Feehery, a Republican strategist and former congressional aide."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":244.36,"text":"“But he’s not going to spend money on candidates who don’t support him. He’s just not going to do that. So you have to be very careful in making any comments that piss off Trump, it won’t do you any good,” he added."}],[{"start":254.8,"text":"Among the Republicans who are not expected to attend the RNC convention in Dallas are Zach Nunn of Iowa, David Valadao of California and Tom Barrett of Michigan, who are all battling to keep their seats."}],[{"start":267.56,"text":"“I can’t control what the president’s going to say at the convention, but I can control where I’m at, what I’m doing,” Barrett said in a Politico article about the defections."}],[{"start":276.92,"text":"Republicans are hoping that they can limit the damage in the midterms with a strong final two months of campaigning focused on bolstering their turnout and portraying Democrats as excessively leftwing on both economic and social issues, after progressive candidates scored a number of key victories in their own primaries this year."}],[{"start":295.32,"text":"The GOP official said Trump’s presence on the campaign trail would be critical to boosting Republican turnout and the Dallas convention would also help."}],[{"start":303.76,"text":"“We’re reminding them there’s an election, showing them what the contrast is between the two options that they have and encouraging them to get to the polls,” the official said."}],[{"start":313.36,"text":"“President Trump is the most popular and admired Republican president and is the unequivocal leader of the Republican Party. There are some voters that only he can motivate to get to the polls — and any Republican candidate would agree with that reality,” a White House official said on Monday."}],[{"start":328.96,"text":"But Republicans are still largely on the defensive, reckoning with Trump’s plunging popularity and concerns that he has drifted out of touch with the American public, where his focus now lies on rebuilding Washington DC in his own image with the construction of the White House ballroom, a triumphal arch and remaking the reflecting pool on the National Mall."}],[{"start":348.44,"text":"“Swing voters, especially, don’t like Trump’s personal aggrandisement,” said Feehery."}],[{"start":356.32,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1788835726_2749.mp3"}