Michael Goodwin: Trump faces an uphill battle to sell voters on his agenda before the midterms — here’s how he can do it

Although he wrote and has lived his life by the “Art of the Deal,” Donald Trump faces a giant hurdle in trying to persuade voters to keep his party in control of Washington.

Over the next month, he must successfully sell the idea that his presidency has been a big success, and that he needs a Republican congress to help him finish the job.

Midterm elections commonly spell trouble for the occupant of the White House, but Trump’s challenge is far from ordinary.

With his personal popularity sagging and his party a decided underdog in swing districts and states, the president must move mountains of voters and do it quickly.

Election Day on Nov. 3 is approaching on the fast track, and the urgency is compounded because nearly all states allow some form of early voting.

Showing that he realizes his political life and legacy are on the line, the president plans to spend most of October barnstorming America, with reports saying he aims to visit at least 10 states.

The scale of the challenge is indicated by the fact that his first stops were in Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama — states that are usually reliably red, but are not yet secured this year.

The extended tour is unusual, but Trump has little choice. With polls and betting markets predicting Dems will win majorities in both the House and Senate, the president’s final two years in office will be the stuff of nightmares unless he can engineer a stunning comeback.

Otherwise, we know what the template of failure looks like — the second half of his first term. After Dems won a House majority in 2018 and made Nancy Pelosi Speaker, she orchestrated investigations of nearly every breath the president took and every dollar he spent.

Thanks to the help of leftist partisans carrying media credentials and a corrupt deep state, she turned the Russia-gate hoax into an impeachment farce.

A similar fate would be certain to befall the president again, with Dems now largely running on a “Get Trump” platform. Under the sway of burn-it-down radicals, their agenda ranges from more impeachment to imposing sky-high taxes on families and businesses, demonizing Israel and re-opening borders to all comers.

Trump knows as much, but his schedule shows he believes voters can be persuaded that he and the GOP congress have earned the right to stay the course.

In important ways, the president has a strong case, but the success of his travels and rallies will depend on how persuasively he makes that case.

Messaging trap

With the Real Clear Politics average of polls showing he has an approval rating of just 38%, compared with 60% disapproval, he faces a steep climb.

Inflation is still driving up prices, and most Americans are giving Trump poor grades on the economy. Majorities are also tired of the war in Iran, so how the president makes his final pitch could be the deciding factor in November.

One hurdle is that he has fallen into the trap of telling people how great everything is when their day-to-day experiences, especially when it comes to rising prices, are telling them something very different.

The message that all is well was a bust when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris tried it in 2024, and it’s not working any better for Trump.

One factor is the president’s habit of premature declarations of victory, over both inflation and Iran. An alternative approach, even at this late hour, would be to acknowledge public concerns and explain why he believes he and a GOP congress will achieve widely beneficial victories.

To judge from comments he made at the White House on Thursday, the president is not yet ready to go there.

“I give us an A+ on the government, on economics, on everything” he said, according to Politico. An AP-NORC poll found just 26% approve of his handling of the economy, with a mere 17% happy with how he has managed the cost of living.

More alarming, a whopping 65% told pollsters White House policies are contributing to price hikes on everyday goods.

Countering that sentiment is difficult, but it is essential to highlight economic success stories. The Census Bureau reports that median household income is the highest on record at $87,400.

Working class key

Similarly, The Wall Street Journal reports that the 4.2% unemployment rate is “at a historically low level that indicates the labor market remains generally healthy.”

Stock markets have soared as many businesses have reported record earnings, with the S&P 500 gaining 37% since Trump’s reelection.

Weaving these accomplishments together while also recognizing that many families feel left out is difficult, but the effort is essential. Charting when and why the tide will change and lift all boats would give voters concrete reasons to stick with the team in place.

Railing against the polls as being biased won’t work, nor will boasts that the nation is living in a golden age of peace and prosperity.

Ditto for promoting grand Washington construction projects, whether it be an expanded White House ballroom or an Arch of Triumph armed with snipers and drones.

They are not likely to win over disillusioned voters, especially those troubled by Trump family members taking financial advantage of the presidency.

As for Iran, many Americans no doubt forget his patient efforts to negotiate a treaty for the mullahs to voluntarily give up their nuclear weapons project.

The regime’s refusal to even consider the idea led to the US and Israeli attacks that, I continue to believe, were fully justified.

Also absent so far in the president’s election-year pitch is the working-class appeal that lifted him to a smashing victory over Harris two years ago.

Those appeals were the heart of his campaign, just as they were in his shocking upset win over Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Two October events in the ’24 race still stand out as hilarious and wildly effective. In the first, Trump spent 30 minutes working in a McDonald’s outside Philadelphia. He wore a store apron over his suit and learned how to prepare french fries and handed bags of them to cars from a drive-through window.

Ten days later, in Green Bay, Wis., he got off his plane and climbed into the passenger seat of a large garbage truck that featured his name.

Sporting a yellow and orange safety vest over a white shirt, Trump asked reporters, “How do you like my garbage truck?”

It came just one day after Biden had said something to the effect that all Trump supporters were garbage.

Point made!

Both events were hailed because they were funny, as well as consistent with his pitch to working-class Americans.

It’s not a coincidence that he carried both Wisconsin and Pennsylvania that November, along with five other swing states.

His challenge now is to help his party do it all again.