Trump’s inner circle is fuming. The Democrats have managed to seize the issue of affordability, turning it into their flagship cause—something many in the president’s camp deemed impossible.

“The Democrats’ stance on affordability is absolute nonsense,” a nationally recognized Republican operative expressed with frustration. “It’s complete and utter nonsense.”

Nonetheless, the wave of Democratic victories that swept across the nation on Tuesday poses a significant threat to President Donald Trump’s agenda. Without a major shift in strategy, the upcoming 2026 midterms could prove challenging for the Republicans.

On Tuesday evening, Democratic candidates achieved decisive wins in the gubernatorial races in both New Jersey and Virginia. The outcome in New Jersey was particularly vexing for Trump loyalists who had anticipated a much closer race.

On Tuesday night, Democratic candidates cruised to easy victories in New Jersey and Virginia’s gubernatorial races, with the Garden State result particularly galling to those in Trump’s orbit who expected a much tighter contest.

By Thursday, an increasingly frustrated president was complaining publicly that Democrats were attempting to steal the cost-of-living message – the very issue that, along with immigration, propelled him back to the White House.

‘We are the ones that have done a great job with affordability, not the Democrats, and yet we lost a couple of elections in Democrat areas,’ Trump fumed, before adding: ‘They weren’t very Democrat when I ran a year ago.’

‘But we just lost an election, they said, based on affordability,’ he continued. ‘It’s a con job by the Democrats.’

President Donald Trump captured in the Oval Office on Thursday. At the event he expressed anger that Democratic candidates in Virginia and New Jersey were able to win on the issue of affordability – which propelled him to the White House one year before

Virginia Republican gubernatorial hopeful, Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears (left) and New Jersey gubernatorial hopeful Jack Ciattarelli (right) both lost their races Tuesday night in off-year elections to Democrats who ran on the issue of lowering prices 

Behind the scenes, Axios reported that Trump spent this week obsessively poring over polling data, growing increasingly alarmed about public perception of food prices.

The White House’s response? A hastily-assembled press release on Thursday boasting that ‘Americans Are Paying Less This Thanksgiving’ – using cherry-picked price points from Walmart and Target.

But even the Wells Fargo report the White House cited acknowledged an inconvenient truth: the Consumer Price Index for food at home was still up 2.7 percent from last year under President Joe Biden.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. If Trump can’t bring costs down – or at least convince voters he’s making meaningful progress – Republicans risk losing their House majority in just 14 months. And without the House, the entire MAGA legislative agenda dies.

‘We can de facto end Donald Trump’s presidency, as we know it, the minute Speaker Jeffries gets sworn in,’ California Governor Gavin Newsom gleefully teased on election night, celebrating another Democratic victory – a ballot initiative allowing California to draw more Democrat-friendly House districts.

Republicans interviewed by the Daily Mail agreed that messaging was a problem, but pointed to other factors behind Tuesday’s devastating losses.

Trump adviser Alex Bruesewitz didn’t mince words about Virginia’s Republican gubernatorial candidate, Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears.

‘Total dud,’ he declared bluntly.

Losing Republican Virginia gubernatorial hopeful, Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, delivers her concession speech on election night after losing the race to Democratic Representative Abigail Spanberger 

A supporter of Virginia gubernatorial hopeful, Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, attends a watch party in Leesburg, Virginia on Tuesday, where the GOP candidate would lose the race to her Democratic rival 

‘I honestly think that sitting and watching paint dry or grass grow or listening to Kamala Harris’ audiobook is more exciting than Winsome Sears,’ Bruesewitz told the Daily Mail in a phone interview.

‘I don’t know how many more case studies we need for people like her before the Republican Party totally stops running these stale candidates who are relics of the George Bush era, an era that brought Republicans nothing but loss.’

Bruesewitz pointed to a critical moment: days before Trump launched his 2024 presidential campaign, Earle-Sears announced she ‘could not support’ him.

‘And in that moment, not only did she lose me, she lost all of the MAGA support and MAGA voters will never forget that,’ he said.

Jack Ciattarelli, who lost New Jersey’s gubernatorial race, similarly failed to ‘excite people the way that they need to be excited,’ according to Bruesewitz, who also noted Democrats’ superior ground game in the Garden State.

But perhaps the most ominous assessment came from John McLaughlin, a veteran pollster for Trump and other Republican candidates. 

‘Hundreds of thousands of Trump voters stayed home in both Virginia and New Jersey,’ McLaughlin warned, his concern palpable.

Democrats have weaponized social media to portray Trump as a modern-day Marie Antoinette – more interested in building a White House ballroom and attending Great Gatsby-themed parties at Mar-a-Lago than providing SNAP benefits amid a government shutdown or lowering costs for struggling families.

A supporter of Republican candidate for New Jersey governor Jack Ciattarelli watches the GOP candidate concede while wearing one of President Donald Trump’s trademark Make America Great Again hats

‘If there’s not a clear contrast on the right issues, the Trump voters will stay home, and that would be a disaster for the Republicans next year, for Congress, in the Senate,’ McLaughlin told the Daily Mail.

He acknowledged that while most Americans believe the country is on the wrong track and worry the economy could deteriorate further, when Trump’s policies are directly compared with Democrats’, ‘all of a sudden, like we did last year when President Trump was running, we look a lot better.’

Some Republicans told the Daily Mail there’s a dangerous hesitancy to trumpet economic improvements because things aren’t yet back to Trump’s first-term levels.

‘I think that Republicans are spooked to talk about anything that would need to get fixed regarding the economy because they’re afraid that it therefore reflects poorly on President Trump,’ the national Republican operative admitted. ‘It does not.’

Both the operative and former White House press secretary Sean Spicer argued Trump is still cleaning up the inflationary mess created by Biden’s COVID-19 spending spree – and voters will understand that.

‘The Biden problem was this: they were trying to tell us, “don’t believe your lying eyes.” Prices were up during the Biden administration, and they were like, “Oh, it’s no big deal,”‘ Spicer explained in a phone interview.

He offered a simple analogy: something that cost $3 rose to $5 under Biden, and is now back to $4 under Trump.

‘Where Trump needs to step it up is to say “Hey guys, it went from $5 to $4, I want to get it to $3, we’re not there yet, and we’re going to keep fighting for it,”‘ Spicer advised.

Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom’s social media account shared an image of President Donald Trump dressed as Marie Antoinette, as Democrats have pushed that the president is prioritizing building his White House ballroom over lowering costs 

Republicans facing voters in 2026 can point to tangible wins: lower gas prices, tax cuts in the Big Beautiful Bill, Trump’s push to reduce prescription drug costs, and any progress on bringing down food prices.

Bruesewitz, who at 28 represents the younger generation of MAGA operatives, also urged Republicans to develop a coherent answer on student loan debt.

‘And so his messaging should be like, “Hey guys, we’re moving in the right direction, it’s better, but we’re not done yet,”‘ Spicer counseled.

Ironically, Republicans could borrow a page from Biden’s 2024 playbook – before he dropped out and handed the baton to Vice President Kamala Harris.

His campaign slogan? ‘Let’s finish the job.’

For Trump and the Republican Party, those words have never been more relevant – or more urgent.