As Republicans break with Trump, one gets a brushback

As Donald Trump's approval slips and voters lean toward Democrats ahead of the 2026 midterms, a number of Republican candidates have been creating space between themselves and the president. Some have removed him from campaign websites, and others have criticized or voted against the Iran war. Trump has mostly shrugged this off, but he singled out Florida Representative Maria Elvira Salazar for punishment, according to NBC News.

Salazar, in her third term and representing a Miami-area district where 74% of residents are Hispanic, released a camera-facing ad shot outside the White House. She told the president that some immigration enforcement had "gone too far" and that Hispanics who backed him in 2024 now feel betrayed. Over the weekend, Trump reposted more than a dozen social media messages attacking her, including ones calling her a back stabber and urging him to pull his endorsement. The NBC News polling average puts his approval at 39%, down from 50% at the start of his second term, and Latino voters disapprove of him by a 2 to 1 margin in the latest NBC News poll.

Others who stepped away from Trump escaped similar treatment. Trump played down the website changes by gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds. Representatives Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Ashley Hinson, both Iowa Republicans, backed ending the Iran war, yet joined Trump in the Oval Office on Monday for a steel plant announcement. The episode suggests that a televised, public rebuke crosses a line that quieter distancing does not.

Summarized by PolitiKool from NBC News’s reporting. Read the full story at NBC News →