Republican strategists are signaling that they may soon abandon some of their own Senate candidates as a worsening political climate forces the party to defend states it once considered safe.

"Those candidates have [had] their chances," one Republican operative working on Senate races told The Washington Sun, referring to GOP hopefuls in Georgia and North Carolina. "Time to go find other races."

Months of heavy spending in both states have barely moved the numbers, according to the report.

In North Carolina, a leading outside super PAC last week pulled $6.5 million in ad reservations meant to boost Republican Michael Whatley, who trails former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper badly. In Georgia, the Cook Political Report recently moved Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff's race against GOP Rep. Mike Collins to "Likely Democrat."

Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) suggested Whatley has himself to blame for tying his fortunes so closely to the White House.

"I don't see any evidence of separation between [Whatley] and the president," Tillis said.

According to the Sun, Republicans expect more cuts in both states as the party moves money to shore up a group of red states that now look shaky: Ohio, Alaska, Texas and Iowa.

In Ohio, more than $300 million in ad spending is flowing into the race between Sen. Jon Husted and former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who leads in public polling. In Alaska, where gas tops $5 a gallon, Sen. Dan Sullivan faces a hostile environment that operatives admit they can barely measure.

"People are feeling it, and they don't like it. They don't like it at all," Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) told reporters.

In Texas, a super PAC aligned with the Senate Leadership Fund has booked $117 million to rescue Attorney General Ken Paxton against Democrat James Talarico. One Texas-based GOP strategist now calls the race a coin flip, after rating it 60-40 for Paxton in August.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who lost his primary to Paxton, hinted that the party might need to stop pouring money into "lost causes." Asked whether Paxton is one of them, he replied, "I'm going to leave that up to the voters."

Even Kansas has become a worry, with outside groups spending seven figures to prop up Sen. Roger Marshall.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) described a shift in how voters feel.

"Six months ago, the reaction was sort of, 'Eh, we've got problems with the Republicans, and they're not perfect, but the other side's crazy now,'" Kennedy said. "Now, it's more like, 'Both sides are crazy.'"

A second GOP operative offered an even bleaker assessment.

"Is it a s---ty environment? Absolutely. Does it seem to be getting worse? Absolutely," the operative said. "Is it possible to keep the majority? It's still possible."

A Fox Business panel gave President Donald Trump’s latest idea to bolster Republicans’ midterm prospects a blistering review Monday as record-high fuel prices continue to sour voters’ perceptions of GOP candidates.

As of Monday, the national average cost of diesel fuel was $6.46, just seven cents below the all-time high recorded last week. Regular gasoline stood at $4.48, around 39 cents higher than one month prior as Trump’s deeply unpopular war against Iran continues to inflate fuel costs.

To combat rising fuel costs, Trump is “very seriously” considering imposing a ban on diesel exports, CNBC reported Monday, an idea that was panned by guests on Fox Business’ “Mornings With Fox Business.”

“It is definitely a political gesture, but it's a really bad economic move. If you ban exports on diesel, you get a surplus of diesel almost overnight because refiners can't pick and choose what products they're going to be producing, so you're going to have too much diesel which has no place to go,” said Fox News contributor Liz Peek.

“So yeah, prices may come down. So what happens? Refiners will cut back production overall, gas prices go up, and everyone else in the country that doesn't use diesel but uses gasoline is going to be angry. This is great for farmers, maybe, but it would be a short-term reprieve on diesel prices and is not a good idea.”

The idea to ban U.S. diesel exports has been floated by several prominent Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who called on Trump this month to enact the export ban “like presidents in the 70s put embargoes on ag products bc food prices were inflated,” writing in his characteristically casual writing style on social media.

Ryan Payne, president of Payne Capital Management, also gave Trump’s idea a poor review Monday on Fox Business, arguing that the proposal would only “exacerbate the problem even more.”

“All of a sudden there's less refined diesel going to the rest of the world, so all of a sudden, prices in places like Europe go up, and then when we import goods from there, the transportation costs go up, and the costs to make those goods go up, so it's kind of like penny-wise, dollar-foolish,” Payne said.

Peek suggested Trump’s proposal was one made from a place of nervousness.

“I think President Trump and the Republican Party are very nervous because farmers have been hit by tariffs and now high diesel prices, high fertilizer prices, that they might vote for the Democrat alternative, and that would be really a blow,” she said.

A political ad that features President Donald Trump warning, “This is the final battle,” and ends with the disclaimer “Paid for by the US Government,” was a massive misstep that called unwanted attention to the president’s largest blunder.

That was the panel's collective opinion on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” on Monday after the ad premiered over the weekend.

After sharing portions of the grim ad, the hosts played a clip of Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) harshly criticizing it, calling it “probably illegal” on CBS and then adding, “I think there ought to be a rule that you can’t – well, there probably is a rule – you can’t spend public money to promote yourself.”

According to MS NOW host Joe Scarborough, Trump’s mention of wars as part of the voiceover was disastrous.

After repeatedly observing that taxpayers funded the ad (”stealing taxpayer dollars”), he drilled down on part of Trump’s message.

“When he says, I'm keeping you out of foreign wars, what he's saying is, 'Hey everybody, I've got you in a foreign war. I put you in a foreign war.’ That is a reminder: look what I have done!” he exclaimed.

Co-host Jonathan Lemire added, “His signature promises: staying out of foreign wars, lower prices. He has not fulfilled either. He's reminding those at home — again, who paid for that ad — that he failed on those promises.”

Scarborough later said the ad also has implications for a reeling Republican Party.

“This is bad. It's bad for America,” he pointed out. “But if you don't care about that, and there's a lot of evidence right now that you don't, it's not only bad for America, it's really bad for the Republican Party. You need to make him stop.”

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