President Donald Trump at a lunch with Senate Republicans in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 21, 2025. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

Some of President Donald Trump ’s closest allies in Congress are warning that the party needs to sharpen its affordability message to voters heading into the 2026 elections — or risk big losses that would shackle him for the rest of his second term.

“I would love him to get back to driving around in the garbage truck, going to McDonald’s. Go to a supermarket, go to a farm. That’s when he’s at his best,” Rep. Jeff Van Drew told CNN, recalling a message he conveyed to the president in a lengthy phone call earlier this week. “Next year, we got to concentrate — the American people first.”

Van Drew, a New Jersey

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