{"id":2153,"date":"2026-09-06T11:53:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T11:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/?p=2153"},"modified":"2026-09-06T11:53:02","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T11:53:02","slug":"a-whiplash-election-year-enters-its-final-stretch-as-trump-holds-wild-cards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/?p=2153","title":{"rendered":"A whiplash election year enters its final stretch as Trump holds wild cards"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump gestures in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Manuel Balce Ceneta)<\/small><\/p>\n

2026-09-06T11:23:03Z<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 In the earliest days of this election cycle, the U.S. wasn\u2019t at war with Iran<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

The East Wing<\/a><\/span> of the White House was still standing and the Kennedy Center wasn\u2019t threatened with demolition. Artificial intelligence data centers<\/a><\/span> weren\u2019t bipartisan shorthand for the tech sector\u2019s excess. Democratic socialists were largely confined to the outer edges of political discourse. Lake Ontario\u2019s<\/a><\/span> name wasn\u2019t in question. <\/p>\n

Since President Donald Trump<\/a><\/span> entered politics more than a decade ago, he\u2019s had a knack for dominating the national conversation so thoroughly that it can be hard to keep up. But as the final midterm<\/a><\/span> of his presidency rapidly approaches, the landscape is proving especially volatile, with Trump often stirring the tumult.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of these things are out of our control,\u201d House Speaker Mike Johnson<\/a><\/span>, a Louisiana Republican, told reporters last week when pressed on whether the frenzy will hurt his party\u2019s election prospects.<\/p>\n

Even the map itself has been in flux, with Texas, California and Florida among the states that have redrawn congressional districts<\/a><\/span>. Missouri\u2019s Republican attorney general is appealing<\/a><\/span> a court ruling last week<\/a><\/span> that blocked a Trump-backed map there. <\/p>\n

The twists could keep coming. The economic fallout from Trump\u2019s tariffs<\/a><\/span> on Canada may intensify as the election nears. His effort to limit mail ballots<\/a><\/span> could add uncertainty to the voting process just as such ballots are being distributed in states like North Carolina, home to a critical U.S. Senate race. <\/p>\n

The president is sitting on more than $400 million<\/a><\/span> that could shape the election\u2019s trajectory. And Trump\u2019s gilded remake of Washington<\/a><\/span> stands in contrast to the economic anxiety many Americans are expressing. The wealth he has amassed in office has little modern presidential precedent, with Trump taking in $1.2 billion<\/a><\/span> from his crypto businesses last year, according to a federal filing released this summer.<\/p>\n

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