Republicans Panic as Trump Becomes Midterm ‘Ball and Chain’

Evan Vucci / REUTERS Republicans are panicking about the forthcoming midterm elections, as the party is expected to see a wipeout at the ballot box, and President Donald Trump doesn’t appear to be helping.

After tying themselves to Trump for over a decade now, some Republicans now fear that they have little room to distance themselves from the increasingly unpopular president.

“I’m fearful that the president’s numbers are a ball and chain that will be hard to overcome,” said Rep.

Don Bacon of Nebraska, a moderate Republican who is not running for re-election in his battleground district, told the New York Times.

“I’m worried that we’ve lost a lot of our swing voters.

In the Midwest, tariffs aren’t popular.

Ukraine polls at 70 percent — why aren’t we doing more for them? Nebraskans don’t like chaos and all the name calling and treating our allies bad,” he added.

Trump, whose approval rating has sunk to one of the lowest of any president, has doubled down on tying the midterms to his own record.

Last week, said his strategy to muster support for the GOP will be to focus on touting his own record as he campaigns.

“I’m going to go out, and I’m going to campaign like I did for myself,” he said last week.

He also proclaimed that it is actually congressional Republicans, not himself, whom voters dislike.

“But some people like me more than they like the party,” Trump proclaimed.

“I mean, you can’t be insulted by it.

There’s nothing you can do about it.” Still, several Republicans in tight districts are forgoing attending the GOP’s midterm convention in Dallas next week, with only two Republicans in tough House races confirmed to be headed to Texas.