Trump's Republican Party insists there's no affordability crisis and dismisses election losses

NEW YORK (AP) — Almost two weeks after Republicans lost badly in elections in Georgia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia, many GOP leaders insist there is no problem with the party's policies, its message or President Donald Trump's leadership.

Trump says Democrats and the media are misleading voters who are concerned about high costs and the economy. Republican officials aiming to avoid another defeat in next fall's midterms are encouraging candidates to embrace the president fully and talk more about his accomplishments.

Those are the major takeaways from a series of private conversations, briefings and official talking points involving major Republican decision-makers across Washington, including inside the White House, after their party's losses Nov. 4. Their assessment highlights the extent to which the fate of the Republican Party is tied to Trump, a term-limited president who insists the economy under his watch has never been stronger.

That's even as an increasing number of voters report a different reality in their lives.

But with few exceptions, the Trump lieutenants who lead the GOP’s political strategy have no desire to challenge his wishes or beliefs.

“Republicans are entering next year more unified behind President Trump than ever before,” Republican National Committee spokesperson Kiersten Pels said. “The party is fully aligned behind his America First agenda and the results he’s delivering for the American people. President Trump’s policies are popular, he drives turnout, and standing with him is the strongest path to victory.”

Trump's approval is similar to former Presidents Barack Obama, a Democrat, and George W. Bush, a Republican, at the same point in their terms, however. Their parties had major losses in midterm elections.

Since the election, the White House has quietly decided to shift its message to focus more on affordability.

Much of the first year of Trump’s second term has been dominated by his trade wars, his crackdown on illegal immigration, his decision to send National Guard troops into American cities and the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

Trump has talked more about affordability in the days since Election Day. On Friday, he slashed tariffs on beef and other commodities that consumers say cost too much. But Trump's primary message is that the economy is better and consumer prices lower than as reported by the media. It’s much the same message that Democratic President Joe Biden and his allies spent years pushing, with little success.

“We have a great economy and the prices are coming down,” Trump told reporters Sunday night before boarding Air Force One on his way back to the White House from his Florida resort.

He blamed Democrats for an economy he described as having “the highest inflation in the history of our country. I have it down now to a normal level and it’s going down further.”

In a social media post Friday, Trump said of the GOP: “We are the Party of Affordability!”

He also has claimed the cost of a Thanksgiving dinner this year will be down 25%, but that number is off. Grocery prices are 2.7% higher than they were in 2024.

Economic worries were the dominant concern for voters in this month's elections, according to the AP Voter Poll.

Republican strategist Doug Heye said Trump’s approach is not necessarily helpful for the Republican Party or its candidates, who already face a difficult political environment in 2026 when voters will decide the balance of power in Congress. Historically, the party occupying the White House has significant losses in nonpresidential elections.

“Republicans need to relay to voters that they understand what they’re going through and that they’re trying to fix it,” Heye said. “That can be hard to do when the president takes a nonmetaphorical wrecking ball to portions of the White House, which distract so much of Washington and the media.”

“Candidates cannot afford to be distracted,” Heye added. “As we saw in the recent elections, especially in Virginia, if you’re not talking about what voters are talking about, they will tune you out.”

The reality outside Washington suggests that not every Republican candidate shares Trump's outlook.

New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, a House Republican leader who began a campaign for governor last week, said there is no question about the top issue for her constituents: affordability. She also played down her party's focus on conservative cultural priorities, including transgender athletes, which was a top Republican focus in the recent Virginia governor’s race.

“Certainly I support women and girls sports and protecting them, but as you see in all of our messaging, we’re focused on the top issues, which every conversation with voters is about the high taxes and spending, the unaffordability,” Stefanik told The Associated Press.

Stefanik offered a nuanced perspective on Trump’s leadership.

She was unwilling to criticize any of the president’s major policies or governing decisions. But Stefanik, who has fought for Trump's agenda as a GOP leader in Congress, shifted the focus to New York's Democratic governor when asked about the strength of the Republican Party's support for the president.

“My sense is our party is fully united behind firing Kathy Hochul,” Stefanik said before highlighting Trump's support from New York voters in recent elections.

While Stefanik said it is important for the governor to have “an effective working relationship” with Trump, she declined to say whether she would support a hypothetical Trump move to send the National Guard to New York City, as he has threatened. “It wouldn’t need to happen if there was a Republican governor," she said.

Last year, Stefanik called for the National Guard to help control pro-Palestinian protests on Columbia University.

The Republican National Committee, which serves as the political arm of Trump's White House, issued a series of talking points that shrug off the recent election losses as a byproduct of Democratic voter advantage in the states where the top races played out.

The talking points, obtained by The Associated Press, ignore Republican losses in Georgia and Pennsylvania. They also overstate Trump's political strength, claiming that he is more popular than Obama and Bush were at the same time in their tenures.

The claim has been echoed across conservative media in recent days.

An AP polling analysis finds that Trump’s approval is not higher than Obama’s or of Bush at a similar point in their second terms.

Trump's approval, at 36% in a November poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research is slightly higher than it was at this point in his first term. But both Obama and Bush has approval ratings were in the low 40s at this point in their second terms, according to Gallup polling, which is similar to where Trump landed in Gallup’s latest approval poll in October.

For Obama and Bush, their parties had big losses in the midterm elections that followed.

The Republican messaging crafted by Trump's team, however, doubles down on supporting the president and his policies.

The recent elections “were not a referendum on President Trump, Republicans in Congress, or the MAGA Agenda,” the RNC talking points state. To win in 2026, “Make America Great Again” voters "will need to show up at the ballot box; President Trump and Republicans are going to make that happen.”

Associated Press writers Chris Megerian in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Amelia Thomson DeVeaux and Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach Fla., on his way back to the White House, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach Fla., on his way back to the White House, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

FILE - Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-NY., speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Feb. 22, 2025, in Oxon Hill, Md. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

President Donald Trump walks out to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

FILE - Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., speaks on Capitol Hill, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr., File)

A sign is seen outside the Oval Office before President Donald Trump walks out to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

COTONOU, Benin (AP) — A coup that was announced in Benin on Sunday has been “foiled,” the interior minister said in a video on Facebook.

“In the early morning of Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, a small group of soldiers launched a mutiny with the aim of destabilizing the state and its institutions,” Alassane Seidou said. “Faced with this situation, the Beninese Armed Forces and their leadership, true to their oath, remained committed to the republic.”

Earlier, a group of soldiers had appeared on Benin ’s state TV Sunday to announce the dissolution of the government in an apparent coup, the latest of many in West Africa.

The group, which called itself the Military Committee for Refoundation, announced the removal of the president and all state institutions. Lt. Col. Pascal Tigri was appointed president of the military committee, the soldiers said.

Following its independence from France in 1960, the West African nation witnessed multiple coups, especially in the decades following its independence. Since 1991, the country has been politically stable following the two-decade rule of Marxist-Leninist Mathieu Kérékou.

There has been no official news about President Patrice Talon since gunshots were heard around the presidential residence. However, the signal to the state television and public radio which was cut off has now been restored.

The regional bloc, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), condemned the short-lived coup in a statement.

“ECOWAS strongly condemns this unconstitutional move that represents a subversion of the will of the people of Benin. ... ECOWAS will support the Government and the people in all forms necessary to defend the Constitution and the territorial integrity of Benin,” the bloc said in a statement.

Talon has been in power since 2016 and was due to step down next April after the presidential election.

Talon’s party pick, former Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni, is the favorite to win the election. Opposition candidate Renaud Agbodjo was rejected by the electoral commission on the grounds that he did not have sufficient sponsors.

In January, two associates of Talon were sentenced to 20 years in prison for an alleged 2024 coup plot.

Last month, the country’s legislature extended the presidential term of office from five to seven years, keeping the term limit at two.

The coup is the latest in a string of military takeovers that have rocked West Africa. Last month, a military coup in Guinea-Bissau removed former President Umaro Embalo after a contested election in which both he and the opposition candidate declared themselves winners.

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Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria.

FILE - Benin's President Patrice Talon attends a meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at Planalto presidential palace in Brasilia, Brazil, on May 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)