Last week, President Trump celebrated his grip over the Republican Party.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook at what happened last night,\u201d Mr. Trump boasted at a cabinet meeting<\/a> on Wednesday, after yet another MAGA-aligned candidate he had endorsed walloped an establishment Republican, this time in the Texas primary. \u201cThat was the prelude to the midterms.\u201d<\/p>\n But it\u2019s far from clear that Mr. Trump\u2019s winning streak in the Republican primaries will translate into victory in November, when the party will need the support of voters outside of Mr. Trump\u2019s base \u2014 many of whom are deeply dissatisfied with the economy and the Iran war.<\/p>\n Already, there are signs that his hold over Republicans in Washington may be slipping.<\/p>\n In a rare show of dissent, Senate Republicans earlier this month blocked Mr. Trump on money for his White House ballroom and pushed back on a $1.8 billion fund<\/a> to reward Trump supporters who claim political persecution by Democrats. The opposition was so intense that the White House has considered scrapping it.<\/p>\n Mr. Trump has also been blocked by the courts: a federal judge on Friday temporarily barred<\/a> Mr. Trump from setting up the fund for his supporters, and another court ordered him to remove his name<\/a> from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The Kennedy Center ruling prompted an incensed president to consider backing down \u2014 something he never likes to be seen doing.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are going to be working with Congress to transfer this failing Institution back to them so they can make a determination as to what to do with it,\u201d Mr. Trump said as he complained that there had \u201cnever been a President of the United States who has been treated so unfairly by the Courts as I.\u201d<\/p>\n In a matter of days, Mr. Trump had gone from dominant in the primary races to facing enormous pushback by Republican elected officials in Washington and the courts.<\/p>\n The split-screen illustrates an emerging paradox of the Trump presidency: He has an iron grip on his most loyal supporters, even as his overall popularity slips.<\/p>\n \u201cThe challenge of the administration right now,\u201d said Douglas Heye, a former communications director for the Republican National Committee, \u201cis the issues that they bring up, that Trump brings up, are not where voters are. They don\u2019t need a ballroom, they don\u2019t need a weaponization fund, they need lettuce to be affordable.\u201d<\/p>\n According to a Quinnipiac poll published last week, some 73 percent<\/a> of Republican voters still widely approve of the job Mr. Trump is doing. But Mr. Trump\u2019s overall approval rating has hit a second-term low as gas prices and the economic concerns of Americans remain high.<\/p>\n Most voters think Mr. Trump made the wrong decision to go to war with Iran, a New York Times\/Siena poll found<\/a>, deepening concerns among the Republican establishment about the party\u2019s near-term future.<\/p>\n Olivia Wales, a spokeswoman for the White House, said Mr. Trump \u201cis the unquestioned leader of the Republican Party.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHis endorsement is the most powerful endorsement in the history of American politics \u2014 look no further than his perfect record in the past year for proof,\u201d Ms. Wales said. \u201cPresident Trump is committed to maintaining Republican majorities in Congress to continue delivering wins for the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the White House\u2019s committing repeatedly this year to have Mr. Trump fan out across the country and focus on addressing the economic concerns of Americans, he has appeared more interested in talking about his construction projects and retribution against his political enemies.<\/p>\n Mr. Trump has made clear that he is not concerned about the economic or political fallout of the war in Iran. When it comes to Iran, he said he does not think about the economic hardship of Americans \u2014 \u201cnot even a little bit\u201d<\/a> \u2014 and that he does not care about the midterms.<\/p>\n While those economic concerns have not yet hurt Mr. Trump\u2019s standing in the low-turnout Republican primaries, it could be a factor in a general election in November.<\/p>\n In some cases, Mr. Trump\u2019s success on the campaign trail has fueled the pushback he is facing in Washington.<\/p>\n Mr. Trump notched another win last week when another ally beat Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who voted to convict Mr. Trump in his impeachment trial after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.<\/p>\n