The president is already trying to pass the buck just three weeks before the midterm.
President Donald Trump has a scapegoat in mind in case the midterm elections go badly for Republicans.
Trump, 80, is looking to James Blair, his former deputy chief of staff and the architect of the GOP’s frenzied midterm redistricting efforts, to take responsibility if a blue wave occurs in November, according to Puck.
With just three weeks left before voters decide who will control Congress, Republicans are privately “panicking” that Democrats are ahead in most of the latest polls, the outlet reported.
Not one to take responsibility, the president is apparently considering putting his former political director on the chopping block.
Trump envisions his top adviser taking responsibility for looming midterm disaster.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
“Trump is just setting James up to take the fall,” a Republican Party operative close to the White House told Puck.
Blair, 37, came under fire from the president last week after a New York Times report revealed that he and Trump’s top adviser, Chris LaCivita, were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars each to advise on voting issues in the pro-Putin territory of Republika Srpska.
LaCivita is a longtime Trump advisor.
On October 7, Trump said the two men were “outside consultants” who “don’t work for me.”
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“They are allowed to work for others, like all consultants in Washington, D.C.,” Trump dictated to Natalie Harp, who typed and shared the president’s words to Truth Social. “I have no idea who else they work for, but on second thought I will ask them and, if there is a conflict, I will fire them immediately!”
A Republican source said “the knives are now fully out” on Chris LaCivita and James Blair for aiding a pro-Russian regime during the crucial midterm period.
Social truth/Donald Trump
In April 2025, Blair formally presented Trump with the idea of mid-decade redistricting, which then gained traction in June as he met with Republican lawmakers in states like Texas and Missouri to redraw congressional maps. Nine states ultimately passed new congressional maps before the midterm elections.
Blair left his post as deputy chief of staff in April to lead the Trump-backed super PAC MAGA Inc., in a move Trump called a “short leave.” The president said he would return to the White House after the election.
In recent weeks, Trump has gone on the offensive, holding rallies across the country for Republican candidates in key elections. The president repeatedly urged his supporters to “act like I’m on the list.”
“If we don’t win the midterm elections, they’re going to blame me,” the president said at a rally in Tennessee last weekend. “If we win, I won’t get any credit.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and Blair for comment.
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