GOP faces midterms 'shellacking' as candidates distance from Trump, says Thomas Massie

A Republican member of Congress has said President Donald Trump and the Republican party can expect a “shellacking” in November’s midterms.

Speaking to Kaitlan Collins on CNN, Representative Thomas Massie said that while GOP candidates had to appeal to Trump to win their primaries, they are now trying to distance themselves from him to win over general election voters.

The president’s polling is at an all-time low, sitting at only 32 per cent approval, a 15 point slide from his approval at the start of his second term, per Reuters.

“[Republican candidates] have to find some way to get away from this president,” said Massie.

“He’s not out there campaigning for them. They don’t want him in their districts. They’ve got to put space between them and him…they’re about to take a shellacking here in the general election, so they’re running from him on [immigration] and on other issues like the war.”

Massie is currently a Libertarian Republican member of Congress. He became a critic of the president over the Epstein files and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, resulting in him losing his primary for his Kentucky House seat in 2025 to a Trump-backed candidate, meaning he will likely be out of office following the midterms.

Massie said that he would give the president an “F on the economy, an F on no new wars.” This is reflected in Associated Press polling which shows that only 4 in 10 of Trump’s rural base voters approve of how he has handled the economy due to the rising prices of gas, groceries, and healthcare.

Reuters polling also shows the president at a -32 percent approval rating on foreign policy. The president ran on an agenda of not starting any new wars, but has now entered a conflict with Iran which has resulted in a global gas and diesel shortage.

The representative said that while most Republicans would still give the president a ‘B’ ranking on immigration, people are starting to create daylight between themselves and Trump on that issue, even though it still appeals to his base.

Massie called some of the tactics used by ICE “not appropriate.”

He went on to tell Collins that he believes the president to be “unrepentant” and “in denial” over his polling, lack of popularity, and the potential for a poor election which would reflect badly on his leadership.

The Republican added: “I think his comeuppance will happen on election day, and the day after I think there’s going to be a reckoning.”

It is not unusual for midterms to swing against the president’s party. As Massie pointed out, George W. Bush’s Republican Party lost in a landslide in 2006. Following that, the president fired his Secretary of Defence.