Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Florida) sent shockwaves through the GOP this week by posting a video warning President Donald Trump that his immigration policies are alienating a voting bloc that delivered major gains for him in 2024: Latinos. Many Trump allies have dismissed the message, but CNN's Kate Bolduan reported that frustrated Republicans are looking for ways to "put some distance" between themselves and the president ahead of the midterm elections, which arrive in November 2026, when every seat in the House of Representatives — Salazar's included — will be on the ballot. Salazar's clip is available on YouTube.

During a Friday morning conversation with Bolduan, her CNN colleague Aleena Treene stressed that although Trump is "likely to dismiss these types of ads" from "certain Republicans," his reaction does not erase his party's growing worries about the midterms. Historically, the party holding the White House has tended to lose congressional seats in midterm elections, a pattern that lends urgency to the anxiety Treene described.

"He's going to continue to argue he's doing a great job," Treene told Bolduan. "We just heard him do that the other night when he was in North Carolina. But for members of his political operation who are really running the entire strategy over how the White House is handling the midterms, this is a major concern, especially as they feel that they're already facing so many headwinds in this election already — some of them, of course, of their own making, particularly I mentioned the Iran war and the high gas prices that Americans are seeing across the country."

Treene said much of that anxiety centers on Salazar's ad itself.

"But look, I've spoken with a number of the president's political advisers, as well as members of his own political operation, and they were frustrated, particularly with this ad that you just played of Maria Salazar, someone who the president helped get into office," she said. "She's a congresswoman from Florida, the president's own backyard, and (is) hitting him on an issue that they've always believed is very strong for him: immigration — and being very clear by standing in front of the White House while she delivered this critique of the president. That's something many people said is just not helpful at this point."

Treene argued that the video marks a significant break from the "iron grip" Trump has held over the GOP in his second term.

"You have not seen this type of criticism, really, from anyone close to him other than a couple, you know, random people in Congress, people like the Republican Thomas Massie," she told Bolduan. "But people who have always been loyal to the president that has shined through more than ever in his second term. So, the fact that they're starting to see the tide change is definitely concerning for people here who are close to the president, allies of him and his advisers. And it all comes, as I will say, they also recognize they have an enthusiasm problem."

The original report appeared in Alternet.