Byron York, chief political correspondent for the conservative newspaper the Washington Examiner, warned fellow Republicans on Thursday that voters "won't buy" the Trump administration's begging for a "second chance" as it confronts a stretch of "bad news" and "terrible numbers" ahead of the midterm elections.

York noted that President Donald Trump has received some favorable developments he could use in his midterm campaign, yet the president continues to focus on other matters while prices skyrocket — a dynamic he described as "killing" the GOP.

York's column opens with what would seem to be a political gift: new data indicates the U.S. poverty rate fell to a record low in 2025. While some experts caution that the report does not account for changes to federal policy expected to hammer American pocketbooks this year, on its face this is positive economic news that Trump could celebrate.

"What about a big White House event featuring President Donald Trump touting a welcome decline in poverty and an increase in income?" York asked, noting that "there hasn't been one." He quoted commentator Mickey Kaus, who has been covering poverty and social policy for decades, and who remarked on Wednesday: "I dunno, but if I were president and the poverty rate dropped to the lowest rate on record, I might make a big deal out of it — a lot bigger deal than the Trump White House is making."

York acknowledged, however, that there is plenty of bad news to overshadow the good. "The year-over-year rate of inflation today is actually higher than it was when Trump took office in January 2005," he wrote. "That is largely due to energy prices. To use new figures from AAA: Last year, the average price for a gallon of diesel was $3.71. Now, it's $6.40. Last year, a gallon of regular gas was $3.20. Now, it's $4.44. Those are terrible numbers, especially less than two months from midterm elections."

To underscore the point, York cited Fox News's Brit Hume, who said on Wednesday, "This business with prices is just killing this administration and the president's party."

Compounding the GOP's difficulties, Trump has been claiming "there are no problems with the economy" and suggesting that Americans who are deeply upset about prices are being unreasonable. At the same time, Vice President JD Vance has been appealing directly for voters' patience. "Give us another chance," Vance pleaded earlier this week. "Or give us another couple of years, to continue to work on the amazing things that we've been doing for the past two years."

In York's estimation, such appeals are a liability. "It's never a great idea for a second-term administration, even with the unusual circumstances of the Trump second term, to ask for 'another chance' at election time," he wrote. "Voters are not very charitable about that sort of thing."