2026-08-27T08:00:29.251Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/27/politics/trump-midterms-convention-flop
唐纳德·特朗普总统一直将这场独一无二的中期选举大会吹捧为共和党所需的重磅活动，希望能在中期选举前提振选民士气、扭转党派政治运势。
但随着这场为期两天的盛会临近，共和党人私下里开始质疑，在选民普遍收紧预算的当下，这场活动是否合时宜，以及在选举仅剩数周之际，让候选人离开各自选区前来参会是否明智。
更让担忧雪上加霜的是：议员需缴纳高昂的参会费、与NFL赛季开幕和9/11纪念活动等事件撞期，还有一些州政党难以激发本党成员的热情。
还有一个最核心的顾虑——这个曾被戏称为“特朗普狂欢节”的活动，最终可能会沦为宣传总统本人的舞台，而非真正聚焦于即将参选的候选人。
“我听人说，我们为什么要办这场活动？到底能有什么用？”得克萨斯州共和党顾问Reb Wayne说道，“当初这个主意不错，但随着活动临近，我不确定它能带来多少实际益处。”
这种日益加剧的不安情绪，正值共和党候选人想方设法逆势而行之际——当前他们面临着不利于共和党的全国性政治逆风，包括选民对生活成本的普遍不满，以及对持续进行的伊朗战争的挫败感。
通常来说，执政党会在中期选举中丢失国会席位——共和党人也承认，这一态势已经让他们处于不利地位。但由于特朗普并未参选，且民调显示民众对国家发展方向深感不满，共和党领导人担心，2024年投票支持特朗普的广大“让美国再次伟大”联盟选民，届时未必会再次出来投票。
“特朗普不在选票上时，最棘手的问题是什么？选民不会出来投票，”一位身处竞争激烈选区的共和党议员说道，“那特朗普现在想做什么？调动基础选民出来投票。”
特朗普及其团队去年构思举办这场中期选举大会，将其作为吸引共和党选民、说服他们前往投票站的全新方式——当时共和党内部普遍认为这是个明智的点子。
但近几个月来整体政治氛围恶化，即便那些仍认为展现党派团结的大型活动有价值的人，也对此次大会的筹备执行产生了疑虑。
一位参与大会内部讨论的共和党幕僚承认，自决定举办大会以来，政治环境已经发生变化，但他同时指出，既然特朗普已经宣布了活动计划，他们就不会更改方向。这位幕僚还辩称，共和党全国委员会筹办的这场多日活动仍能带来一些好处，能为候选人提供在全国舞台上展示自己、提振筹款的机会。
大会的后勤安排也让一些议员和政党幕僚的热情打了折扣，共和党人需要离开竞选活动，前往达拉斯参加活动，届时当地天气很可能酷热难耐。
“去达拉斯并不容易，”一位接近白宫的人士说道，“他们本该选在佛罗里达或者华盛顿举办。”共和党全国委员会一位官员表示，达拉斯之所以被选中，很大程度上是因为当地有能力承办如此大型的活动。
一些议员抱怨参会费过高：据知情人士透露，众议院议员需缴纳2.5万美元及以上的费用，不过也有人淡化此事，称这只是为提振党筹款的常规要求。
“问题不在于议员本身，而是捐款资金，”这位共和党议员说道，将抱怨归咎于外界普遍怀疑这场活动是否值得弱势议员花费时间参与。《帕克》杂志率先报道了有关参会费的抱怨。
更添烦恼的是，大会举办时间与NFL赛季前两场比赛的夜间时段重合——这意味着黄金档的演讲嘉宾将与美国收视率最高的体育赛事抢观众。
“我至今都没搞懂活动的节目安排，感觉就是五个小时的演讲，”一位共和党捐赠者说道，他主要将此次大会视为一场 networking 活动。
不过一些共和党官员辩称，这场大会能够帮助那些决定国会控制权的数十位候选人提振声势——至少，尝试用新方式吸引选民注意力，几乎不会有什么坏处。
共和党全国委员会将活动安排在初选季末期、大多数州提前投票开始之前，希望借此凸显共和党在特朗普任期内取得的成就，同时在美国人开始认真关注中期选举之际，抨击民主党。
官员们表示，共和党人预计会将民主党贴上“社会主义者”的标签，并聚焦该党极左翼候选人，这与特朗普越来越尖锐地将民主党攻击为国家核心价值观的威胁的论调保持一致。
“将焦点放在社会主义问题上，有助于调动基础选民的情绪，”密歇根州共和党战略家杰森·罗伊说道，“对于那些还没真正明白社会主义有多糟糕的人来说，这或许能让他们看清这一点。”
共和党高级助手告诉CNN，此次活动是转向大选姿态的天然契机，他们也承认，此前由于内讧以及对特朗普关税政策和伊朗战争的不满，他们未能做到这一点。
除了为共和党候选人安排演讲环节，共和党全国委员会还计划邀请各类选民分享共和党政策如何改善了他们的生活。
“即将举办的中期选举大会，将展示特朗普总统的执政议程势头，以及共和党为美国民众带来切实成果的政绩，”共和党全国委员会发言人娜塔莉·巴尔达萨雷在一份声明中说道，她还补充道，“尽管民主党仍处于分裂和分心状态，共和党却团结在共同的愿景之下。”
但共和党人也承认，大会不可避免地会围绕特朗普展开——他已确认将在第二天发表主旨演讲，且整场活动中他都会持续占据核心位置。
目前白宫仍深陷伊朗战争泥潭，且难以缓解消费者成本压力，一些共和党人对将更多注意力聚焦于特朗普的任期和政绩的前景感到不安。他们担心，总统在自己的演讲中，更可能会吹嘘自己在白宫的生活、对民生成本问题轻描淡写，而非宣传共和党议程中最受欢迎的内容。
但多位参与大会讨论的消息人士打消了有关让特朗普与寻求连任的弱势共和党议员同场的顾虑，他们辩称，在选举周期的这个后期阶段，无论如何他们的命运都已绑定在一起。
“难道有人会认为，一名共和党议员参加完大会后，民主党突然就会投放广告将他与特朗普绑定？”其中一位消息人士说道，“特朗普早就已经出现在每一则广告里了。”
马努·拉朱对本文亦有贡献。
Republicans worry Trump’s midterms convention will flop
2026-08-27T08:00:29.251Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/27/politics/trump-midterms-convention-flop
President Donald Trump has touted his one-of-a-kind midterm convention as the spectacle his party needs to reenergize voters and alter its political fortunes ahead of the midterms.
But as the two-day extravaganza approaches, Republicans are privately questioning if it strikes the right tone amid the electorate’s tightening budgets — and the wisdom of diverting candidates from their districts just weeks out from Election Day.
Further compounding concerns: expensive entrance fees for lawmakers, competing events like the start of the NFL season and 9/11 commemorations and some state parties struggling to drum up enthusiasm with their members.
And then there’s the overarching fear — that an event once dubbed “Trumpapalooza” will indeed end up being far more about promoting the president than the candidates who are actually on the ballot.
“I’ve heard people say, why are we doing this? What’s going on?” said Reb Wayne, a Texas-based Republican consultant. “It was a good idea at the time, but as we’ve gotten closer to it, I’m not sure it’s going to serve much benefit.”
The rising apprehension comes as Republican candidates search for ways to defy the national headwinds arrayed against the GOP, including entrenched voter anger over the cost of living and frustration with the ongoing war in Iran.
The party that holds the White House traditionally loses seats in the midterms — a dynamic that Republicans acknowledge already puts them at a disadvantage. But without Trump on the ballot and polls showing deep dissatisfaction with the country’s trajectory, GOP leaders worry it will be even more difficult to get the broad MAGA coalition that came out in 2024 to show up again.
“What is always the biggest issue when Trump is not on the ballot? Voters don’t show up,” said one Republican lawmaker in a competitive race. “So what’s [Trump] trying to do? Motivate the base to come out.”
Trump and his political team conceived of the midterm convention last year as a fresh way to engage those GOP voters and convince them to head to the ballot box — a concept that was widely viewed among Republicans then as a smart idea.
But as the broader political mood has worsened in recent months, even those who still see merit in making a big show of party unity have doubts about the convention’s execution.
One Republican operative involved in internal discussions around the convention acknowledged that the political climate has shifted since the decision to hold the convention — but noted that once Trump announced it, they were not going to change course. The operative also argued that there’s still some benefit to be squeezed from the multiday event organized by the Republican National Committee, offering candidates an opportunity to showcase themselves on a national stage and juice their fundraising.
The sheer logistics of the convention have also muted enthusiasm among some lawmakers and party operatives, requiring Republicans to spend two days off the campaign trail to gather in Dallas in what are likely to be sweltering conditions.
“It’s not easy to get to Dallas,” said one person close to the White House. “They should’ve done it in Florida, or in DC.” Dallas was chosen in large part because it could host such a big event, an RNC official said.
Some lawmakers have griped about the entrance fees: $25,000 and up for House members, said people familiar with the matter, though others downplayed it as a standard request meant to boost the party’s fundraising.
“It’s not the members themselves, it’s donor money,” the Republican lawmaker said, chalking up the complaints to broader skepticism about whether the event will ultimately be worth vulnerable members’ time. Puck first reported complaints about the entrance fees.
Adding to their worries, the convention will take place on the same nights as the first two games of the NFL season — pitting its primetime speakers against the most-watched sport in the country.
“I don’t understand the programming still. It seems to just be five hours of speeches,” said one GOP donor, adding that they were mainly approaching the convention as a networking event.
Some Republican officials nevertheless argued that the convention could offer a boost to the few dozen candidates whose races will determine control of Congress — and, at minimum, there was little downside in trying something new to capture voters’ attention.
The RNC slotted the event near the very end of primary season and before early voting begins in most states, in hopes of highlighting Republicans’ accomplishments under Trump while also hammering Democrats just as Americans begin to tune into the midterm contests in earnest.
Republicans are expected to play up efforts to label Democrats as “socialists” and spotlight the party’s furthest-left candidates, officials said, in keeping with Trump’s increasingly belligerent attacks on Democrats as dangers to the nation’s core values.
“It’s going to help rev the base up, that focus on socialism,” said Michigan GOP strategist Jason Roe. “And it may, for those people who don’t really understand why socialism sucks, give them some perspective on it.”
The event is a natural moment to shift into a general election posture, senior GOP aides told CNN, conceding they had thus far failed to do so amid infighting and consternation over Trump’s tariffs and the Iran war.
In addition to giving Republican candidates speaking slots, the RNC is planning to spotlight a variety of voters who will talk about Republican policies that have benefited their lives.
“The upcoming Midterm Convention will showcase the momentum behind President Trump’s agenda and Republicans’ record of delivering real results for the American people,” RNC spokeswoman Natalie Baldassarre said in a statement, adding that “while Democrats remain divided and distracted, Republicans are united behind a shared vision.”
Republicans nevertheless acknowledged that the convention will inevitably revolve around Trump, who is slated to headline its second day and be a constant presence throughout the event.
With the White House still consumed by the war in Iran and struggling to ease consumer costs, some in the GOP cringed at the prospect of focusing even more attention on Trump’s presidency and record. The president, they worried, is just as likely to spend his own speech boasting about his White House ballroom and dismissing affordability concerns as he is promoting the most popular elements of the party’s agenda.
But multiple sources involved in the convention discussions waved off reservations about putting Trump in close proximity to the vulnerable Republicans trying to keep their seats, arguing that at this late date in the election cycle, their fates will be intertwined regardless.
“Is the idea that a Republican is going to go to the convention and all the sudden [Democrats] are going to run ads tying them to Trump?” said one of the sources. “Trump is in every single ad already.”
Manu Raju contributed to this report.