WASHINGTON—President Trump this week offered his 13 million Truth Social followers a blunt assessment of how he hopes history will remember him.
But Republicans privately worry that Trump’s focus on himself is backfiring with voters, complicating their efforts to keep control of Congress and giving Democrats plenty of ammunition for attack ads. his attention frequently shifts to other issues, from his construction projects to attacks on his perceived enemies While the president has touted his economic record in speeches and Oval Office events. Trump has seen firsthand how quickly a president’s policies can be wiped away by their successor, so he is trying to leave behind a legacy that will be more difficult to erase. “He wants to be consequential. He wants this to matter. He wants to be the kind of president who people say, you know, it mattered that he was president. Despite his low approval ratings, Trump plans to put himself at the center of the midterms, a move that will test whether his influence with voters is waning.
And he is putting his name and face on limited-edition passports, national park passes and a soon-to-be released commemorative $1 coin.
As his approval ratings sag, Trump is on a mission to burnish his legacy, according to his advisers. Trump’s senior advisers have for months tried to shift the president’s focus to the economy, according to people familiar with the matter, in a bid to show voters that the president is focused on the issue they care about the most. He spends much of his time, according to those close to him, working on a growing list of construction projects, from the White House ballroom to a proposed triumphal arch, seeking to create physical reminders of his time in office. One senior administration official said the president has entered “legacy mode. He is fixated on how he will be remembered by future generations, according to aides, conscious of avoiding the fate of past occupants of the White House he views as weak, such as Jimmy Carter. “He is one of the handful of presidents who thinks on an entirely historic scale,” said Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker and current Trump confidant. White House spokesman Davis Ingle said Trump is “solely focused” on delivering prosperity and peace to the country. “The only legacy President Trump is concerned with is making America greater than ever before,” he said, adding that “when all is said and done, this president will undoubtedly go down as the most successful and consequential president in modern American history. As the president’s team debates how to spend MAGA Inc.’s enormous fundraising haul, Trump has told advisers that he wants to produce a series of television ads centered on his agenda, according to people familiar with the matter.
The president, according to his allies, is confident that the tax cuts he signed into law will resonate with voters. And he contends he is still the party’s most powerful political force, arguing he can motivate Republicans to show up in November’s elections.
