Trump mastered the 24-hour news cycle. Now it’s hurting the GOP.
Few presidents have been as attuned to the rituals of the daily news cycle as Donald Trump. With a headline-making instinct honed over decades in New York media, Trump dominated the Republican primaries and two presidential campaigns.
His particular talent was always finding something new to say or do: a proposal tossed off at a rally, an unprecedented attack line, even a minor scandal. Each gave the press another headline, another chyron, another reason to keep him at the center of the story.
In 2016, one media-tracking firm estimated that Trump had received nearly $6 billion worth of free media coverage during his campaign — more than twice Hillary Clinton’s total. That figure measures the advertising value of the coverage, not whether it helped him. But it captures how thoroughly he could command the news cycle.
That instinct helped Trump when he was the candidate. The question now is whether it helps Republicans trying to win a brutal midterm campaign.
Republicans have largely kept Trump out of their ads.
The economy is the top issue: 84% of registered voters in a Pew Research Center poll said it was very important to their midterm vote. Republican candidates and outside groups are spending hundreds of millions of dollars in the closing weeks trying to make a sustained case about wages, taxes and Social Security, as well as immigration and crime. Republicans have largely kept Trump out of their ads , suggesting they see a political risk in putting him front and center. Their challenge in selling their economic message is that the president keeps generating stories of his own.
In recent weeks, Trump has promised $5,000 checks if Republicans retain control of Congress; run promotional ads paid with taxpayer money then announced he would use his super PAC to pay for them; announced a diesel deal with Vladimir Putin ; and angrily attacked Norway after the Nobel Peace Prize went to someone else. His administration has added to the news: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced plans to livestream the Fort Hood shooter’s execution , while Homeland Security agents searched Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home .
Each of these stories spent down the most valuable currency a candidate has: time. To get a message out, campaigns have to make the same argument over and over in interviews, speeches, debates and ads. But a Trump announcement can reset the day’s coverage before that message has had time to stick.
That leaves candidates with an awkward choice. They can respond, giving the president’s story another day of attention and taking themselves off message. Or they can ignore it and risk looking like minor characters in their own campaigns. Either way, they lose time they could have spent introducing themselves, explaining their records and making their case to voters. With Election Day three weeks away, there are only so many days left.
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Trump’s approach also sidelines the candidates. Most of the actions he has taken or promised to take didn’t even involve Congress. The one that did — the checks — was announced without a clear plan for how to pay for them . House Speaker Mike Johnson said Congress would have to approve the payments, while other Republicans questioned the cost. The taxpayer-funded ads were about Trump, not the Republican candidates. And the other headlines often shifted attention from the party’s policy pitch to questions about Trump’s judgment. Trump’s earlier promises of direct payments have also left Republicans wrestling with how to sell a benefit that has yet to materialize.
Take his recent diesel deal with Putin. Trump presented it as a way to increase fuel supplies and ease prices, addressing one of voters’ top concerns this cycle. But the announcement also reopened questions about his relationship with Putin, U.S. sanctions against Russia and American support for Ukraine nearly five years into a brutal war. Analysts questioned whether the deal could deliver much relief at the pump, since the promised shipments would make up only a small share of global demand.
The deal was not an easy campaign win for Republicans. Senate candidates Mike Rogers of Michigan and Dan Sullivan of Alaska criticized it, while Sen. Susan Collins of Maine joined a bipartisan group calling for Trump to reverse course. Many other Republicans in competitive races stayed silent.
To be fair, Republicans are facing serious headwinds this election, given voters’ concerns about the economy. Trump’s strategy of putting himself on the ballot may energize some of his hardcore supporters to turn out, which could make a difference in a close race in a red state. But his candidates need more than a burst of attention. They need time to make their own case — and the president keeps taking over the next 24 hours.
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