This Is What Trump Panic Looks Like: Is this what panic looks like? President Trump has been barnstorming the country in recent days, as part of a tour that will take him across the country until the midterms. His rallies, he says, have been “unbelievable,” generating “unbelievable crowds and enthusiasm.” They are “flipping races all the time.” News outlets—particularly old foes like The New York Times and CNN—may claim there are whole sections of empty seats, but they are lying. In reality, Trump insists on Truth Social, “the Rallies are ‘HOTTER’ than ever. They are all ‘happenings,’ and they never happened before, and will never be duplicated again.” Come the midterm elections, there will be a “MIDTERM SURPRISE.”
There is little point in arguing with Trump about crowd sizes because you can just look at the event photos—there are many empty seats. These rallies are also taking place at smaller venues than he’s used in the past, as noted in recent Daily Beast analysis. On Friday, Trump drew about 8,000 people to a basketball arena in Mobile, Alabama, that holds 10,000—whereas in 2015, he turned out more than 30,000 people to a football stadium in the same city. But perhaps the biggest problem of all is that he was in Mobile to begin with: Why is the president campaigning in deep-red Alabama when his party is fighting for its life in swing states?
Consider the hurricane-force headwinds facing the Republicans right now. The national average for a gallon of gas is $4.36, thanks in part to a foolhardy war with Iran that Trump started but has no clue how to finish. He’s also been waging a trade war with pretty much everyone, which is increasing the cost of myriad other goods. These self-inflicted wounds, coupled with ICE abuses and DOGE belligerence, have dragged down his approval rating to historic lows. No wonder the generic election ballot favors Democrats by more than 9 points, according to Nate Silver’s weighted average.
So, again, why is Trump rallying in places like Mobile and Durant, Oklahoma? “I’m really here because, sometimes,” Trump said at Friday’s Alabama rally, “you’ve… https://newrepublic.com/article/216377/trump-midterm-rallies-panic-republicans