2026-08-15T10:00:29.574Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
据两位知情人士向CNN透露，唐纳德·特朗普总统终于批准从其个人政治行动委员会（PAC）中拨出数百万美元，用于在11月选举中支持处境艰难的共和党候选人。与此同时，一些顶级竞选顾问私下承认，共和党掌控参众两院的可能性正在不断缩小。
特朗普的竞选团队仍在敲定最终拨款金额，其中一位知情人士透露首批拨款将达3000万美元。另有一位官员提醒称，最终金额尚未确定。两位消息人士表示，这场等待已久的资金注入将在未来几周内到位，这是距离11月选举仅剩三个月之际，竞选团队展开冲刺的首轮攻势。
此次注资正值共和党内部愈发担忧：伊朗战争带来的强烈逆风以及高油价可能抑制选民投票率。
“我们仍有保住参众两院的路径，”一位消息人士告诉CNN，“但如今我还不能说我们对此持谨慎乐观态度。”
一位顾问透露，特朗普也终于开始加紧个人竞选行程，计划每周至少前往摇摆选区举办多场集会。他的团队早在数月前就曾承诺推行这一计划，共和党人士长期以来一直认为，这是激发MAGA选民热情的关键举措，而这些选民对共和党中期选举胜算至关重要。
“他喜欢出行，但又讨厌出行，”一位顾问说道，他指出国内议题和伊朗战争打乱了让特朗普增加外出行程的早期计划。特朗普近期已告知其核心幕僚，他希望更多外出为共和党候选人助选。但顾问们也承认，他的热情可能同样会快速消退。
“我们看看这份热情能维持多久，”该顾问表示，“一旦开始出行，他就会嘀咕：‘我为什么要这么做？我还有其他事要做。’”
尽管如此，共和党内部普遍焦虑认为，特朗普在直接介入选举方面行动太迟了。数月来，议员和幕僚们一直在私下抱怨总统迟迟不愿投入巨额资金帮助全国范围内的共和党候选人参选。当前，选民对物价上涨以及不得人心的伊朗战争感到不满，且这两个问题都看不到解决迹象，共和党正努力保住数十个众议院席位和数个关键参议院席位。
“特朗普总统是共和党无可争议的领袖，他致力于维护共和党在国会的多数席位。在过去一年多时间里，总统让我们的国家变得比以往任何时候都更强大：美国历史上最安全的边境、有史以来规模最大的中产阶级减税、以及1900年以来最低的谋杀率，”白宫发言人奥利维亚·威尔士在给CNN的一份声明中说道。
“特朗普总统将继续鲜明对比其务实议程与国会激进民主党人的政策，”她补充道。
一位与特朗普关系密切的顾问承认，随着总统支持率屡创新低，外界基本不认为他能争取到大量无党派选民和摇摆选民——而这正是他在2024年关键摇摆州胜选的关键因素。相反，共和党人认为，他们11月的选举命运几乎完全取决于能否动员数百万名通常不会参加中期选举的MAGA忠实选民。
“毫无疑问，我们必须确保那些在总统选举中为特朗普投票的选民，也能在国会选举中出来投票，”这位顾问说道。
但近几个月来，特朗普和共和党并未推出多少能激发其基础选民热情的举措。国会共和党人在8月休会前的最后几周在内讧中浪费了时间，尤其是在特朗普有争议的选举法案上争执不休——该法案旨在固化联邦选民身份证制度并推出更多投票限制措施，但几乎没有成为法律的可能，甚至从未提交参议院全院投票。
国会共和党领导人长期以来一直认为，他们在中期选举中的成功很大程度上取决于特朗普能否重现2024年的竞选联盟。他们需要特朗普帮助在关键摇摆地区尽可能多地动员其MACA基础选民，尤其是在密歇根州、俄亥俄州和北卡罗来纳州，这些州的参众两院关键选举将决定明年1月国会的控制权归属。
共和党人还需要守住关键的蓝州席位，比如缅因州极具分量的参议院席位，以及纽约和加利福尼亚州的数个众议院席位。但今年秋季的绝大多数选举席位都分布在特朗普此前已证明自己可以获胜的地区，比如艾奥瓦州和宾夕法尼亚州。
参众两院竞选幕僚透露，共和党竞选官员从一开始就敦促候选人在竞选活动中积极靠拢特朗普，而非与之保持距离。这其中甚至包括最温和的共和党议员，比如代表纽约哈德逊谷选区脆弱席位的众议员迈克·劳勒，他今年春季曾邀请特朗普前往其选区最偏红的地区共同举办集会。
议员们还需要特朗普保持竞选口径一致，通过吸引大批民众、用谈论共和党在民生保障方面的成就来展现竞选魅力。但特朗普在宣传其国内政绩方面几乎没有取得进展，也未能结束一场他曾多次宣称只会持续4到6周的长期海外战争。
在与特朗普的私下谈话中，一些顾问试图强调这场战争正在严重拖累共和党选情，他们辩称，即使是总体上支持美国在伊朗目标的选民，也不愿看到一场推高国内物价的旷日持久冲突。
据了解内部讨论的人士透露，油价持续高企的前景对特朗普的选情造成了尤其严重的打击，这一直观的民生危机提醒着许多美国人，本届政府治下的生活成本愈发高昂。
“问题就是高物价，这才是选民不满的根源，”一位顾问说道。
或许是为了应对这些压力，副总统JD·万斯和即将离任的白宫新闻秘书卡罗琳·利威特本周开始强调，对特朗普而言，降低油价与阻止伊朗获得核武器同等重要，甚至更为重要。这与特朗普此前频繁宣称伊朗核能力是唯一关键问题的立场有所转变。
“我认为这两个目标对总统来说同等重要：我们既要压低油价，也要确保伊朗永远无法获得核武器。这是他无论如何都会完成的事情，”利威特周五在空军一号上对随行记者说道。
但特朗普仍公开坚称，他愿意为赢得战争延长任何时长，尽管他难以找到明确途径实现其中东目标，却仍淡化战争对国内的影响。
在这种日益恶化的背景下，特朗普近期多次表示，中期选举并非他真正需要操心的问题。除了对美国人的经济焦虑不屑一顾、未将结束伊朗战争列为优先事项之外，他还将自己的个人优先项目置于共和党整体议程之上。
“我不必支持所有人。你知道的，我日程很忙，”特朗普上周在接受《Punchbowl News》采访时说道，他还补充道：“我曾对某人说：‘我赢了大选，我不需要再为竞选奔波。’”
与总统关系最密切的人士坚称，他仍然非常关心共和党能否在11月的选举中赢得尽可能多的席位。但一位顾问提醒称，特朗普不会介入他认为没有胜算的竞选。
“他不想带着毫无胜算的候选人冲到终点线，”该人士说道，暗指特朗普在背书人选上极为谨慎。“他不会支持失败者，以免毁掉自己的声誉。”
但他也清楚地意识到，如果民主党在11月赢得众议院或参议院控制权，将对他剩余的两年任期造成极其负面的影响。
“如果我们丢掉参众两院，接下来两年会糟糕透顶。特朗普对此心知肚明，”这位消息人士说道。其他官员强调，特朗普不想重蹈第一任期的覆辙，经历国会的调查和对抗，包括两次弹劾审判。
围绕总统的政治运作团队由一群紧密团结的忠实幕僚组成，他们曾参与特朗普2024年总统竞选及此前的竞选活动。团队由其前政治顾问詹姆斯·布莱尔负责，他直到最近还担任白宫负责立法、政治和公共事务的副幕僚长。
团队其他高级成员包括：克里斯·拉西维塔，特朗普2024年连任竞选联合经理；泰勒·布多维奇，此前曾领导MAGA Inc.，后担任白宫通讯主管；蒂莫西·塞勒，此前负责特朗普2024年竞选的数据运营；以及托尼·法布里齐奥，总统的长期民调专家。
官员们表示，白宫幕僚长苏西·瓦尔斯曾在特朗普大选期间与拉西维塔等人并肩作战，目前仍深度参与11月选举前的所有战略制定工作。
本周团队出现了一点人事变动：利威特宣布将于8月底离任新闻秘书一职，距离中期选举仅剩两个月。利威特一直被西翼幕僚视为总统在即将到来的选举中最有效的发言人之一。截至周六上午，该职位的继任人选尚未确定。
团队成员表示，他们的战略将遵循2024年助选时的相同原则。他们表示，最关键的一环是数据运营。总统的幕僚长经常对团队表示，所有工作都必须基于近年来积累的大量数据，这些数据曾用于激发特朗普基础选民的热情。
“我们确切地知道我们的选民是谁，”总统的一位政治幕僚说道，“基于数据运营，我们知道如何联系到他们，也知道如何让他们走出家门参与投票。”
特朗普的顾问们还列举了一系列他们认为将在11月助选的近期政治胜利，包括共和党在多个州史无前例地重新划分国会选区，将数个席位的倾向转向共和党，并进一步减少了实际具有竞争性的选举数量。这场直接由特朗普推动的重划选区行动，是共和党人认为仍有机会保住众议院多数席位的关键原因。
最高法院裁定取消官方竞选委员会对单个候选人的捐款限额后，共和党又取得了另一项胜利。共和党幕僚坚称，这一变化将有助于缩小资金竞赛差距，因为共和党在PAC和外部团体中的资金远多于民主党。
“我们的资金将发挥更大作用，”最高法院裁决后一位共和党竞选官员说道，“我们不会说要赢下多少多少席位……但我们感觉自己正处于有史以来最佳的竞选状态之一。”
Republicans worry their chances of keeping Congress are slipping away. Inside the Trump campaign plan to change that
2026-08-15T10:00:29.574Z / CNN
President Donald Trump has finally given the green light to pour millions of dollars from his personal PAC toward boosting vulnerable Republicans in November, two people familiar with the plans told CNN, as some top campaign advisers privately acknowledge that Republicans’ chances of keeping control of both the House and Senate are dwindling.
Trump’s political team is still debating what the final dollar figure will be, though one person familiar with the discussions floated $30 million in the first tranche. Another official cautioned that the final amounts have not yet been decided. The long-awaited cash infusion is happening in the coming weeks, two people said, describing it as the first salvo in a stretch-run effort as November looms just three months away.
And it comes amid growing GOP concerns that severe headwinds over the Iran war and high gas prices could suppress voter turnout.
“There is a path where we keep the House and the Senate,” one source told CNN. “I’m not in a place today where I’m prepared to say we’re cautiously optimistic about that.”
Trump is also belatedly preparing to ratchet up his own campaigning schedule, with plans to travel at least once a week to hold a spate of rallies in battleground districts, one adviser said. His team first promised this move months ago, and Republicans have long argued it’s a crucial step to energizing MAGA voters critical to the party’s midterm chances.
“He loves to travel, but he hates to travel,” said one of his advisers, noting that domestic issues and the Iran war upended early plans to get him on the road more frequently. Trump has recently told his closest aides that he wants to be out more stumping for GOP candidates. But advisers acknowledge his enthusiasm could evaporate just as quickly.
“We’ll see how long that lasts,” the adviser said. “Once he’s traveling, he’s like: ‘Why am I doing this? I want to be doing other things.’”
Still, there’s widespread angst within the party that Trump has waited too long to get more directly involved. Lawmakers and operatives have privately agonized for months over the president’s reluctance to commit his vast sums to helping elect candidates across the country. The GOP is fighting to hold dozens of House districts and a handful of critical Senate seats amid voter backlash over rising prices and the deeply unpopular war in Iran — with no end in sight on either problem.
“President Trump is the unequivocal leader of the Republican party who is committed to maintaining Republicans’ majority in Congress. In just over one year, the President has made our country greater than ever before with the most secure border in American history, the largest middle-class tax cuts ever, and the lowest murder rate since 1900,” White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said in a statement to CNN.
“President Trump will continue to draw a sharp contrast with his commonsense agenda and the radical Democrats in Congress,” she added.
An adviser close to Trump acknowledged that, with the president’s approval ratings scraping new lows, there’s little expectation he can win over large numbers of independents and swing voters — which was part of his path to victory in critical swing states in 2024. Instead, Republicans believe their fate in November rests almost solely on turning out millions of the MAGA faithful who typically don’t vote in midterm elections.
“Without a doubt, we’ve got to make sure we get some of these voters who show up for Donald Trump in presidential elections to show up for these congressionals,” the adviser said.
But in recent months, Trump and Republicans haven’t offered much to energize their base. Congressional Republicans squandered the final weeks before the August recess fighting amongst themselves over legislation — specifically the president’s controversial elections bill that would cement federal voter ID laws and install more voting restrictions, which stands little chance of becoming law and never even made it to the Senate floor.
Congressional GOP leaders have long believed that their success in the midterms will largely hang on Trump’s ability to recreate his 2024 coalition. They need Trump to help turn out as much of his MAGA base as possible in crucial battleground turf — especially in states like Michigan, Ohio and North Carolina, which have critical House and Senate races that could determine control of Congress next January.
Republicans are defending critical blue-state seats too, like the pivotal Senate seat in Maine and several House seats in both New York and California. But the vast majority of this fall’s map is in places where Trump has already proven he can win, like in Iowa and Pennsylvania.
GOP campaign officials have also been urging their candidates from the start to lean in — not away — from Trump on the trail, according to House and Senate campaign operatives. That includes even the most centrist Republicans, like Rep. Mike Lawler, who represents a vulnerable seat in New York’s Hudson Valley and welcomed Trump this spring for a joint rally in one of the reddest parts of his district.
Lawmakers also need him to stay on message, driving out big crowds and turning on his election-year charm with talk of the GOP’s accomplishments on affordability. But Trump has made little headway in selling his domestic accomplishments — or ending a monthslong foreign war that he repeatedly vowed would only last four to six weeks.
In private conversations with Trump, some advisers have sought to emphasize how significantly the war is dragging down Republicans’ chances, arguing that even voters who generally support his goals in Iran are unwilling to stomach a drawn-out conflict that’s raising prices at home.
The prospect of persistently high gas prices has particularly damaged Trump’s standing, people familiar with the internal discussions said, serving as a prominent visual reminder of an affordability crisis that many Americans feel has gotten worse under this administration.
“It’s higher prices; that’s what they’re upset about,” said one of the advisers.
Perhaps reacting to those pressures, both Vice President JD Vance and departing White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt this week started emphasizing that lowering gas prices was equally as or more important to Trump than keeping Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. That’s a shift from Trump’s frequent assertions that Tehran’s nuclear capabilities are all that matters.
“I think both goals are equally as important to the president: We want to keep gas prices low but also ensuring Iran can never get a nuclear weapon. Something he will see through no matter what,” Leavitt told reporters traveling on Air Force One Friday.
Trump has nevertheless insisted publicly that he’s willing to prolong the war for as long as it takes to win it, downplaying the domestic impact even as he struggles to find a clear path toward achieving his aims in the Middle East.
Amid that worsening backdrop, Trump has repeatedly suggested recently that the midterms aren’t really his problem. And in addition to waving off Americans’ economic anxieties and declining to prioritize bringing an end to the Iran war, he’s also emphasized his own pet projects over the broader GOP agenda.
“I don’t have to be supporting all the people. You know, I have a busy schedule,” Trump said in an interview with Punchbowl News last week, adding: “I said to somebody, ‘I won. I’m not campaigning.’”
Those closest to the president insist he still cares deeply about ensuring Republicans win as many races in November as possible. But, one adviser cautioned, he won’t get involved in races he thinks aren’t winnable.
“He doesn’t want to carry dead carcasses across the finish line,” that person said, referencing Trump being incredibly protective of who he chooses to endorse. “He’s not going to endorse a loser and ruin his brand.”
But he does acutely understand that Democrats winning either the House or the Senate in November would have a highly negative impact on his final two years in office, they said.
“The next two years will be f*cking horrible if we lose both chambers. And Trump knows that,” that source said. Other officials have emphasized that Trump does not want to go through the same type of investigations and battles with Congress that he did during his first term, which included two impeachment trials.
The political operation surrounding the president consists of a tight group of loyal advisers who worked on Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and other previous campaigns. It’s run by his former political guru, James Blair, who up until recently served as the White House deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs.
Other high-ranking members of the team include: Chris LaCivita, a co-campagin manager of Trump’s 2024 reelection campaign; Taylor Budowich, who previously ran MAGA Inc. and later led White House communications; Timothy Saylor, who previously helmed Trump’s 2024 data operations; and Tony Fabrizio, the president’s longtime pollster.
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who worked alongside LaCivita and the others throughout Trump general election campaign, continues to be heavily involved in all strategy ahead of November, the officials said.
There was a bit of a shakeup this week when Leavitt announced she’s departing her role as press secretary at the end of August, just two months before the midterms. Leavitt has long been viewed inside the West Wing as one of the president’s most effective messengers on the upcoming elections. As of Saturday morning, it was unclear when the role would be replaced.
Those on the team have described their strategy as being guided by the same principles they used to take them across the finish line in 2024. The most crucial aspect, they said, is their data operation. The president’s chief of staff will often remark to the group that everything must be driven by the extensive data they have amassed in recent years and used to energize members of Trump’s base.
“We know exactly who our voters are,” one of the president’s political operatives said. “Based on the data operation, we know how to reach them, and we know what it takes to get them off their ass.”
Trump’s advisers also cite a number of recent political wins they argue should help come November, including Republicans’ unprecedented effort to redraw congressional districts across several states, shifting a handful of seats toward the GOP and further limiting the number of races that are realistically up for grabs. That redistricting push — spurred directly by Trump — is a key reason that Republicans believe they still have a chance to keep the House.
Republicans claimed another victory after the Supreme Court struck down restrictions on the amount that official campaign committees can spend on individual candidates — a change that party operatives insist will help even up the financial arms race given the GOP has far more money than Democrats in PACs and outside groups.
“Our money’s going to go so much further,” one Republican campaign official said following the ruling. “We’re not going out there and saying we’re going to win a gazillion seats … but we feel like we’re probably in the best possible position we’ve been in.”