Susie Wiles and James Blair Outline Trump’s 2026 Midterm Messaging Push at Waldorf Astoria

President Donald Trump’s political team is privately strategizing around a new midterm push built on messaging the 2026 elections as a stark choice between the parties’ platforms, rather than a referendum on Trump’s presidency, according to four people involved in private planning described by CNN.

“President Donald Trump’s political team knows voters aren’t thrilled with the current state of affairs”

CNN

The approach is centered on internal polling showing that “Republicans still hold a trust advantage over the Democratic Party on some key issues,” even as Americans have “soured on Trump and his performance overall,” CNN reported.

CNN

Chief of staff Susie Wiles and James Blair, who CNN said was “leaving the White House to run Trump’s political operation,” outlined the planned approach during a meeting with close allies at Washington’s Waldorf Astoria hotel earlier this week.

One person in the room told CNN that “[Democrats] want to make it a referendum on, ‘Do you think everything is perfect?’” and described the alternative message as, “For us, it’s about, do you want to go forward and continue the work that is being successful and finish the job? Or go backwards to record inflation and high crime?”

CNN also reported that the strategy includes warning voters that if Democrats win control of part of all of Congress, “it means gridlock, it means nothing gets done at all. And we don’t believe that’s what the American public wants.”

The same CNN account said the White House did not respond to a request for comment, and that attendees at Monday’s meeting were asked to sign nondisclosure agreements, with Blair confirming the NDA policy and telling CNN they were required “because we’re running an operation, not a social club.”

As Trump’s poll numbers sag and Republicans grow increasingly concerned about their midterm prospects, Politico reported that the White House is “diving deeper into midterm mode” with coalition repairs, red-meat speeches, and personnel moves.

Politico said administration officials called in “disgruntled parts of the 2024 coalition — from podcaster Joe Rogan to the Make America Health Again bloc — to make up,” and noted that “Three Cabinet officials have departed the administration in a two-month span.”

Fox News

The outlet tied the ramp-up to chief of staff Susie Wiles convening strategy meetings and her deputy, James Blair, taking “a temporary leave to oversee the political operation from the outside.”

Politico described the White House’s focus as an effort to repair the coalition that helped Trump win battleground states, quoting a person close to the White House: “What you’ve got is Susie and James [Blair], they’re doing the blocking and tackling that needs to be done to put Republicans in the best position possible.”

The same source said the effort is “trying to put the band back together,” adding that “The reason why the president won all those battleground states — he put together that record coalition,” and that “It’s hugely important.”

Politico also reported that Republicans are worried Trump is “creating distractions” with a war in Iran that threatens to overshadow economic gains and blunt affordability messaging, and said Trump continues to promise a quick end to the war but negotiations are “again on hold.”

To shore up support, Politico said Trump returned to the road for a two-day swing of base-rallying speeches in key battleground states and, after a five-week hiatus from outside-the-Beltway speeches, delivered a Phoenix speech “the day after Tax Day” that touted tax cuts and hit topics including “border security to crime and transgender women in women’s sports.”

Fox News reported that Trump’s top political advisers met behind closed doors Monday with dozens of leading Republican political consultants from across the country for a strategy session as the party defends “its razor-thin House and slim Senate majorities” in the midterms.

“Midterms 2026: How Donald Trump is Preparing to Challenge the Results Nine months before the U”

France 24

The meeting was organized by White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair, and Fox said it was aimed at “better coordination and sharing of data and strategy between the White House political team and consultants advising candidates in midterm showdowns.”

Fox described the timing as coming “with the six-month mark until Election Day 2026 closing fast,” and said the gathering was first reported by Politico.

The outlet also said the meeting came two weeks after Trump announced that Blair would temporarily step down from his White House role to steer midterm strategy from the outside, and quoted Trump’s social media post: Blair would take “a short leave of absence to lead the charge from the outside” against Democrats, and after the midterms would “return again to the White House, so we can finish the job.”

Fox further reported that Trump made a two-day swing last week to Nevada and Arizona, “two crucial swing states,” to highlight tax cuts that congressional Republicans passed and which he signed into law last summer.

The Fox account said the tax cuts were part of a law originally titled the One Big Beautiful Bill Act but rebranded as the Working Families Tax Cuts, and that it included extending the president’s signature 2017 tax cuts and eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay.

In a separate quote tied to the cost-of-living message, Fox said GOP Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana told viewers on Fox News’ “The Big Weekend Show” that “If we lose the midterms, it'll be because we didn't talk about what moms and dads are worried about when they lie down to sleep at night...and that's primarily the cost of living,” and added that “One Big Beautiful Bill is going to help a lot of people in terms of their taxes and a lot of small businesses.”

Beyond campaign messaging, France 24 and L’Express both described Trump urging Republicans to take control of election administration in ways they characterize as unconstitutional, with the stated aim of sowing doubt and preparing post-election maneuvers.

France 24 reported that earlier on Monday, February 2, in an interview with conservative podcaster and former FBI deputy director Dan Bongino, Trump said Republicans should say they want to take control of the vote, “at least in about fifteen places,” and that the next day from the Oval Office he told reporters, “I do not understand why the federal government does not handle it itself,” urging Republican lawmakers to tighten election rules.

L'Express

France 24 quoted Ludivine Gilli, director of the North America Observatory at the Jean-Jaurès Foundation, saying, “Wanting to take control of the elections is completely unconstitutional,” and said Steven Ekovich, professor emeritus at the American University of Paris, argued that “Legally, nationalizing elections is almost impossible given how decentralized the system is.”

L’Express, citing the Washington Post, described Trump pressuring Republican leaders in several states to redraw House districts, saying “nine districts have already been altered by Republican lawmakers in Ohio, Missouri, North Carolina, and Texas,” and that “the same is being considered in Florida.”

L’Express also said Trump targeted mail-in voting, promising to lead a movement to end it, and described the Washington Post investigation as saying “the Department of Justice is currently seeking to obtain the list of registered voters in at least 40 states,” including personal information such as “voters' dates of birth and portions of their Social Security numbers.”

L’Express further described nominations since returning to power in January 2025, naming Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, Harmeet K. Dhillon, Ed Martin, and Gregg Phillips, and said these figures “continue to repeat that the 2020 presidential election was 'stolen' from him.”

In parallel with midterm campaign planning and election-rule disputes, TradingView reported that Trump adviser Patrick Witt, executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, is urging the crypto industry to adopt a strategic position to push through cryptocurrency regulation legislation before the elections.

“Skip to Main Content Coalition repairs, red-meat speeches and personnel moves: The White House jumps into midterms mode The dive comes as the president’s poll numbers sag and Republicans grow increasingly concerned about their midterms prospects”

Politico

TradingView said Witt argued that “a regulatory framework for crypto is inevitable,” and framed the question as “no longer whether a law will be enacted, but when,” with the bill at the center of attention being the CLARITY Act.

TradingView

The outlet described the CLARITY Act as aiming to clarify the respective roles of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and said the project is divisive, with Coinbase opposing it and criticizing its provisions as “too strict toward stablecoins or decentralized protocols.”

TradingView reported Witt’s statement that “any federal legislation requires 60 votes in the Senate,” and said that threshold “can only be reached with compromises,” while urging the ecosystem: “Let’s not let perfect be the enemy of good.”

The piece also described Witt’s political calculus that as long as the sitting president remains favorable to cryptocurrencies and Congress is controlled by Republicans, “the conditions are in place to vote for a balanced law,” and warned against inertia that could lead to “punitive” texts if power shifts.

TradingView said the legislative timetable is urgent because “all seats in the House of Representatives as well as 35 of the 100 Senate seats will be up for grabs,” and it added that even if Republicans hope to keep the Senate, “polls show Democrats leading for the House.”

The article’s framing tied the midterm calendar to the possibility of regulation being delayed or accelerated, stating that “By refusing to act now, the sector risks regulation being imposed tomorrow, under less favorable conditions.”