# Trump's hollow victory lap as midterms loom > Trump spent seven hours campaigning in safely Republican states, boasting of achievements while his party faces potential losses in both chambers. - Title: Trump's hollow victory lap as midterms loom · The New Yorker - Summary: Trump spent seven hours campaigning in safely Republican states, boasting of achievements while his party faces potential losses in both chambers. Trump… - Keywords: donald trump, 2026 midterm elections, campaign rallies, republican party, james talarico, texas senate race, iran conflict, inflation, politics, news, Trump's, hollow - Source: The New Yorker — https://newyorker.com/news/letter-from-trumps-washington/the-dumocrats-are-coming-for-trump-and-all-he-can-do-is-call-them-names - Author: Susan B. Glasser - Published: 2026-10-08T23:05:07+00:00 - Read time: 3 min - Topics: donald trump, 2026 midterm elections, campaign rallies, republican party, james talarico, texas senate race, iran conflict, inflation, politics, news ## Trump's sole campaign focus Donald Trump tells rally crowds that no president has achieved what he has. At a high school in Vandalia, Ohio, he declares himself the greatest of all time. > No President has ever achieved what we've achieved ## His diagnosis for party troubles Trump believes politics should be solely about him. He asks crowds to pretend he is on the ballot, saying people show up and always win when he runs. > Please pretend that I'm on the ballot ## A week of campaigning Trump spent seven hours and fifty-six minutes addressing supporters across six rallies this week. He campaigned in Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Ohio, Nebraska, and back to Texas. ## Reversing Republican fortunes Trump won these five states by an average margin of twenty-two percent in 2024. Now Democrats threaten to retake the governorship and Senate seat in Ohio, and lead in Texas. ## The Texas Senate race Nearly all recent polls have the Democratic nominee for Senate, James Talarico, leading the Republican state attorney general, Ken Paxton, several with more than fifty percent support. ## Trump's standard stump speech Trump lectures audiences about the great stock market, terrific tariffs, and the most closed-shut border in history. He tells Ohio crowds America was winning too much under him. ## Denial amid economic concerns Two-thirds of the country thinks the U.S. is on the wrong track. Trump tells Ohio crowds there is almost no inflation and claims affordability concerns are a plot against him. > We have almost no inflation, by the way ## The Iran war dominates 2026 The war against Iran and global economic squeeze have become the dominant issue in the 2026 campaign. Trump promises it will end very soon, causing oil prices to plunge. ## An admission of timing In Alabama, Trump admits the conflict is unlikely to end until probably right after the midterms. This contradicts his earlier promises of imminent resolution. ## Attacks on Democratic candidates Trump reserves special ire for James Talarico, calling him a Dumocrat Communist and a weak, gutless, self-hating, transgender-promoting freak show who threatens to destroy everything built. > Dumocrat Communist James Talafreako ## Talarico's alleged veganism Trump repeatedly attacks Talarico for being vegan, claiming he eats meat at barbecues then throws up. He repeats this line at rallies in states where Talarico is not on the ballot. > He's a vegan and all of a sudden he's going to barbecues ## Other Democratic targets Trump attacks Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a bad student who made up climate change, calls Henry Cuellar ungrateful, labels Abdul El-Sayed a total Communist, and mocks Jon Ossoff. ## A joyless campaign performance Unlike 2018, Trump shows little joy at rallies. His mood seems exemplified by threats rather than delight. He remains most animated when attacking, reliving his American carnage inaugural address. ## Blue America as hellscape Trump describes Democratic cities as squalid and miserable. In Texas, he says when blues get in, everything becomes dirty, streets are filthy, doorknobs are dirty, everything has a bad smell. > When the blues get in, everything becomes dirty ## A muddled closing message Trump's 2026 closing argument is incoherent. Vote for him because high prices do not matter and because Democrats will turn children into Communists and force gender-reassignment surgery. ## Twenty-six days remain With the midterms approaching, Trump offers no coherent strategy beyond personal attacks and denial of economic hardship. Nearly half the country was not alive when Texas last elected a Democrat to Senate. ## Key takeaway Trump campaigned across Republican strongholds claiming unprecedented success, but offered little response to economic concerns or the Iran conflict dominating the 2026 midterm race.