President Donald Trump is hitting the campaign trail to put out political "fires" in states he once carried with ease — a slate of stops that, according to Politico, has robbed "the GOP of a chance" to focus on competitive midterm swing states.

In a piece published Tuesday morning, Politico reported Trump intends to devote the coming month to stumping for Republican midterm candidates in "bastions of conservatism — including Alabama, Alaska, Iowa, Ohio and Texas," even as the party confronts mounting odds of major upsets. The calculation is that the president's presence will coax his "die-hard supporters" to cast ballots on Election Day, reflecting a long-established pattern in which MAGA backers tend to vote only when Trump himself is on the ballot.

But the itinerary is not viewed as an all-around positive for the party. As the report observed, "each trip to play defense in red strongholds robs the GOP of a chance to put Democrats on the back foot in states that are traditionally competitive." That such defensive stops are needed at all has laid bare something Republicans have "feared for months: that even a gerrymandered House map and whopping cash advantage won't be enough to save the House or Senate from Democrats."

"The problem is that the fires are everywhere right now," one anonymous GOP donor told Politico.

"On a scale of 1 to 10," another anonymous source close to the White House said. "10. In Alaska, because of the obvious situation of what happened in the primary, and in Ohio, because [Jon] Husted is proving not to be a compelling candidate."

Ohio and Alaska have emerged as particular sources of anxiety for Republicans, whose candidates there are showing signs of floundering against notably strong Democratic opposition. Politico noted that Trump's planned trip to Alaska represents "a significant commitment of time and presidential resources that underscores how dire the situation is for Republicans."

Some of the stops are also designed to help across multiple states at once: Trump's appearance in Alabama will cross over into a west Florida media market, while his planned visit to Oklahoma is expected to bleed over into Texas. The month ahead will therefore test whether Trump's appearances can both shore up vulnerable Republican candidates in conservative states and leave enough time for the party's candidates in traditionally competitive states to make their own case.

"They recognize how precious the president's time is," a second source close to the White House told Politico. "The reality is we have more field to cover than they do. That's just a fact. We are defending more than [Democrats] are."

Yet another GOP source told the outlet that the party finds itself in "a bad spot for a multitude of reasons," with poor candidate quality chief among them — a problem that also bedeviled Republicans during the 2022 midterms. That source, however, placed the heaviest blame on the president, saying Trump "definitely is the biggest culprit because of how much the trade war has affected the farmers and the Iran war has affected the farmers and rural people."

"It's his fault," the source stressed.