President Donald Trump and the White House are delivering on another promise: To make November’s midterm elections about him. This week’s Republican midterm convention, dubbed “Trumpapalooza,” comes almost a year after White House chief of staff Susie Wiles promised Trump and his political apparatus would put the president “on the ballot”
Page A2From§Eachthe midnight edition — 9 September 2026
RNC builds a Trump-branded midterm convention; its own candidates RSVP no.
As it ran on the front
The party said it would put the President on the ballot. Nearly a year ago, chief of staff Susie Wiles made that promise, and this week in Dallas, the party finally cashed it in: two days, a fundraising slate built to grow an already large cash advantage, and a nickname — "Trump-a-palooza" — solid enough that three separate outlets have now run with it. This is what commitment looks like. This is turnout.
Except — hold on. The RSVPs started coming back marked "regrets" before the invitations were even cold. On August 27th, former Senator John Sununu, running in New Hampshire's Republican Senate primary against Scott Brown, said he had no plans to attend. That's — that's not a boycott, that's scheduling. Everyone has a calendar.…
…(cont) Then, on August 31st, Senator Susan Collins of Maine confirmed she also wouldn't be there, through a source who noted, unprompted, that skipping conventions is just her practice. Sure. It's tradition. It has nothing to do with the fact that Collins is running one of the most competitive races in the country, and standing next to a two-day event built around the President's name is not obviously the play. It has nothing to do with that at all. I don't know why I brought it up.
By September 3rd, The Hill was reporting it wasn't just the two of them — it was "some Republicans," plural, watching the President's own numbers and deciding Dallas could wait. Two days later, Democrats announced they'd be counterprogramming the event, in the same state the RNC chose to stage it.
So by the time the doors actually opened this week, the Washington Examiner was calling the whole thing a gamble, the New York Times was asking whether the President is even still in step with his own party on Iran and the economy, and the New York Post — the same day — was airing fears of a "Trump-a-Palooza" backlash. That's the trade press. Not the opposition. The trade press.
The turnout will be fine. It has to be fine. It is a two-day convention built entirely around one man's name, thrown by a party the Post itself says is trying to beat back polls pointing to a possible November wipeout, and some of its own most vulnerable candidates already told you, in advance, with their names attached, that they weren't walking in the door.
That's not a scheduling conflict. That's a headcount.
“They threw a two-day party to nationalize the whole election around one man, then watched their own candidates find something else to do that weekend. Collins ain't skipping conventions out of habit, she's skipping the photo — and Sununu made the same call before Labor Day, in writing. When the party's own people won't stand in the room with the brand, that's not a scheduling note, that's the internal weather report, and it's your seat in the House it's about to rain on.”
“Every campaign manages its own calendar, that's just standard practice — Susan Collins has never done these conventions, ask anybody. Sununu's mid-primary, he's got logistics, nothing to read into it. And turnout was never the metric anyway, the metric is earned media, and — well, the earned media this week is the Post running a headline about backlash, but earned media is earned media.”
The receipts
The two-day gathering — nicknamed “Trump-a-Palooza” — offers free publicity for Republicans as they attempt to brand Democrats as "socialists" and features a slew of fundraising events to help the party grow its already large cash advantage to beat back bleak polls pointing to a possible November wipeout.
As Republicans face down tough midterm elections, President Trump has appeared out of step with the party on Iran, the economy and other issues.
President Trump and top GOP leaders are gathering in Dallas for a midterm convention, though some Republicans in competitive races are opting to skip it and campaign in their home districts or states.
· Some Republicans are planning to skip Trump’s GOP convention from the morgue, 3 Sep 2026
· Susan Collins to skip Republican midterm convention from the morgue, 31 Aug 2026
· New Hampshire Senate GOP front-runner to skip midterm election convention from the morgue, 27 Aug 2026
· Democrats seek to counter RNC's 'Trump-a-palooza' convention in Dallas from the morgue, 5 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.