TRUMP'S MIDTERM "STRATEGY" IS TO THROW MONEY AT TOTALLY RANDOM STATES

A few days ago, CNN reported this:

The Department of Homeland Security is planning a surge in its efforts to investigate voter fraud in select states starting Tuesday....

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has accelerated efforts to make the department a central force in President Donald Trump’s hunt for purported widespread election fraud.

That's chilling -- but what are the "select states" DHS is focusing on?

Offices in nine states are expected to take investigative action from early September to mid-October, according to the guidance. Those states include Washington, Wisconsin, Missouri, Georgia, California, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New York and Connecticut.

Why? Why those? Of the nine states mentioned, only Georgia has a tight Senate race. Why not Ohio or Texas, for instance? Sure, they're red states, and Trump wants to pretend that (imaginary) voter fraud by non-citizens is a blue-state problem. But in that case, why Missouri?

Yesterday, CNN reported this:

President Donald Trump’s extremely well-heeled political operation has begun an advertising campaign ahead of the 2026 midterm elections that Republicans have been eagerly awaiting.

But the first offerings focus on something decidedly unpopular: Trump himself.

The new ads from Securing American Greatness, the nonprofit arm of the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc., seem to confirm reporting from the Atlantic and Trump’s recent comments suggesting the campaign will largely focus on Trump rather than the Republicans in Congress who will be on the ballot this fall.

The ads really are all about Trump, as I'll show below. But before we get to the ads themselves, let's look at where Trump's PAC is spending money to run them.

Per data from tracking firm AdImpact, the spots have begun running in major media markets like New York, Washington, DC, Chicago and Philadelphia....

Why? Why those markets? Again, not one of these markets has a tight Senate race. It's possible that ads running in the New York City TV market, to take one example, will influence voters in tight races outside the city. The Cook Political Report lists three New York races that are close, either "Lean D" or "Toss Up."

But there are no key races in or around Chicago. So what are these people doing?

We knew the ads would primarily glorify Trump, but it should have been possible to feed his ego and remind pro-Trump voters, Hey, if you love the big guy, get out and vote for Republicans in November. These ads say nothing about Republicans in Congress.

One of the spots, titled “Toughest Guy,” looks exactly like an ad that could be run for one of Trump’s campaigns. It features UFC President Dana White praising Trump’s toughness, followed by Trump delivering high-minded lines about the primacy of America.

“We will be prosperous. We will be proud. We will be strong, and we will win like never before,” he says.

The ad doesn’t even allude to Congress or the Republican Party.

That's this one:

Here's the new ad from Trump's political operation — it's all about Trump. pic.twitter.com/7dRL5tHvsj

— Teddy Schleifer (@teddyschleifer) September 2, 2026

The second ad, “Tax Cut Prices,” is a little more conventional in that it focuses on things Republicans in Washington have done — at least some of which congressional Republicans were involved in.

“We gave you no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security, the largest tax cuts in American history,” Trump says in the ad. “The price of eggs is down 60%. I took prescription drugs from the highest price in the entire world to the lowest. We’re telling the major tech companies that they have the obligation to provide for their own power needs so that no one’s prices will go up.”

The narrator then concludes: “He’s fighting for you every day. Help him finish the job.”

Several of the claims in the ad are false or misleading, including on Social Security taxes, prescription drug prices and making data centers provide their own power.

But it’s also worth noting that some of them — including the latter two — didn’t even involve legislation from Congress. They were executive actions.

I don't think normies pay enough attention to the details of what happens in Washington to distinguish the items that happened because of congressional action from the ones that came about because of presidential edicts. The key here is that the ad never makes an explicit connection between Trump and Republicans in Congress. It's all about him.

And here's another pro-Trump ad from Securing American Greatness that began airing nationally today. pic.twitter.com/wY3eNpCZOv

— Teddy Schleifer (@teddyschleifer) September 2, 2026

They're just taking the old man's money, creating ads that make him feel good about himself, and spending money on them the fastest way possible, by buying ad space in the most expensive media markets.

As for the states Homeland Security is focusing on, I throw up my hands. Why those states? Your guess is as good as mine.

The people planning Trump's midterm speaking tour appear to be doing a better job of focusing it on contested races. NBC reports:

President Donald Trump pledged Wednesday to hit the campaign trail for Republican candidates in 35 races this fall in the lead-up to the November midterm elections....

Trump cited a few of the races he expects to travel for, including Sen. Dan Sullivan’s re-election bid in Alaska....

He added that he’ll also travel to Texas and stump for state Attorney General Ken Paxton....

Several of the Republicans at the White House for Wednesday night’s event in the Rose Garden face competitive races, including Reps. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin, Tom Barrett of Michigan and Mike Collins of Georgia.

Yes, those are key races. The Senate candidates are struggling in the polls. House members Van Orden and Barrett are on Cook's list above, and Collins is running to unseat Senator Jon Ossoff.

Trump spoke about all this as if he actually understand the point of the exercise:

Trump said he’s not aiming to stump for shoo-in candidates.

“If you’re leading by 40 points and you’ve been there for 25 years,” he said, “please don’t ask me to come to your area and make a speech, right?”

This reads like one of those pronouncements Trump makes because someone just explained it to him, and now he wants us to think he understood it all along because he's really smart, unlike the rest of us.

Trump's ad people and his Homeland Security secretary didn't make a similar effort. They're just doing stuff wherever because the old man wants them to do something. They're not bothering to target their efforts because the old man doesn't realize that's important unless someone reminds him.

Well, at least he'll make his speeches in the right battlegrounds. Of course, the speeches will be all about himself -- his greatness, his grievances. He won't even mention the names of the people he's campaigning for. But at least they won't waste money sending him to Connecticut.