In the wake of President Donald Trump's midterm convention, Republicans are sharing their honest thoughts about how it will impact upcoming elections â and they're not happy.
In a Saturday report, Politico collected feedback from Republicans, who didn't mind using profanity to describe their worry over what they saw as the "biggest mistake" Trump made at the two-night event.
"He said 'I am on the ballot,' which is going to fâ us," said a GOP county chair in a region where House races are competitive because of Trump's unpopularity. "People will vote against congressmen and women to get back at Trump."
The midterms are less than a couple of months away, and according to Politico, "a swath of GOP lawmakers" are "near despondent at Trump's comments" at the convention.
Over the course of two speeches, Trump promised $5,000 "dividends" for a GOP midterm victory in the House and Senate, continued to call GOP Senate nominee Ken Paxton ugly, and had voters promise to "cheat like hell."
"I'm sure it helps with the base where enthusiasm is low, but it won't help with independent or swing voters," an anonymous House Republican told Politico.
"Not sure he offered a vision for the next 60 days," another House Republican said. "Trump's economy is still on a collision course with reality."
Others said that while Vice President JD Vance's speech was better, he didn't do much more to help, even as he told a protester to get his "aâ over" to Mexico. One GOP operative told Politico that Vance's speech on the second night wasn't bad, but described it as bland and underwhelming.
"There was nothing that stood out to me as powerful enough to stand out online," the GOP operative told Politico. "I haven't seen anything going very viral outside of JD blasting the protester."