Backpedaling GOP candidate admits Trump 'betrayed' voters | Opinion

Somebody pinch me. I never thought I'd see the day when a Republican congressional candidate actually criticized President Donald Trump, the God-King, Lord of the MAGA Movement, He Who Must Not Be Scorned.

But on Sept. 17, with midterm elections closing in, there was Rep. María Elvira Salazar, a Florida Republican, staring straight into the camera for a campaign ad and saying: "Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far."

She added: "The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today."

After briefly passing out at Salazar's hurling the b-word (betrayed) at Trump, I laughed and thought, "Oh, this is getting delicious."

Salazar is one of the first GOP candidates to publicly criticize Trump

The representative's district in Miami-Dade County is about three-quarters Hispanic and voted for Trump by nearly 15 percentage points in 2024.

Salazar's new campaign video included a headline that reads: "In July, 50% of ICE detainees had no criminal convictions or pending charges."

She's apparently shocked the president she supported did the cruel things he said he would do during the presidential campaign, when he was bellowing anti-immigrant rhetoric at throngs of MAGA faithful hoisting signs reading "MASS DEPORTATIONS NOW."

A GOP candidate pushing back on Trump now is pretty weak tea

After Trump won in 2024, Salazar told PBS News she was confident that "the Trump administration is not going to be targeting those people who have been here for more than five years that have American kids, that don't have criminal records, that have been working in the economy and paying taxes. I am sure that they're going to hone in on the criminals."

Oops.

Salazar also voted for the bill last year that gave U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement $75 billion to fund its havoc, and she toured the notorious Alligator Alcatraz detention center in Florida before it was shut down and claimed it "met the highest standards."

So she's backpedaling away from Trump's policies, and her own votes and vocal support of the president, faster than a Florida tourist fleeing a rattlesnake. That would seem like the right move politically, if we were living in normal times.

Trump has the lowest-ever approval rating on inflation

Trump is profoundly unpopular. CNN polling expert Harry Enten pointed to a new Marquette University Law School poll that found Trump's approval rating on inflation is 61 points underwater: "That is the worst that Donald Trump has ever polled on inflation. And not only is it the worst that Donald Trump has ever polled on inflation, it is the worst that any president ever has polled on inflation!"

So the question is why aren't more Republicans doing what Salazar has done and pushing back – even a little – on an unpopular president's unpopular policies.

Well, there are two facts backing GOP midterm candidates into an electoral corner:

1. If you criticize Trump, he will likely come after you and take away MAGA voters.
2. Trump is so spectacularly unpopular that if you don't criticize or at least distance yourself from him, you might lose everyone who's not a MAGA voter.

Will other Republicans who need voters denounce Trump? I doubt it.

It's a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't scenario, and it's also delightful to watch if you're someone like me who has spent the past decade telling Republicans that Trump will be the end of their political party.

Salazar's decision to make that campaign ad tells us one of two things. Either internal polling in her race against Democrat Eliott Rodríguez – a race running dead-even in a district that should easily go to Republicans – has shown the risk of criticizing Trump and incurring his wrath is lower than risk of pretending everything is fine. Or the polling White House officials have seen is so bad that they gave Salazar permission to push back on the president because they're so desperate to keep Republicans in control of Congress.

Seeing one Republican candidate trying to save her tail by being mildly critical of Trump is certainly not a trend. But it is a sign the midterm polling numbers Republicans are seeing are horrendous.

As we creep toward the November elections, it wouldn't surprise me a bit to see more Republicans fighting for votes like Salazar opportunistically sprouting spines and daring to admit life in America isn't at all like what Trump promised.

Fealty only goes so far when actual consequences are around the corner.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Backpedaling GOP candidate admits Trump 'betrayed' voters | Opinion

Reporting by Rex Huppke, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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This story was originally published September 17, 2026 at 1:30 PM.