The Republican National Committee is accusing media outlets and Democrats of misrepresenting recent remarks by RNC Chairman Joe Gruters.
Andrew Egger, The Bulwark’s White House correspondent, wrote an article published in the outlet on Friday that includes several comments Gruters recently made about the GOP’s prospects in the 2026 midterm elections. Egger listed several remarks that he attributed to Gruters in the piece, including: “It’s not a secret. There’s no sugarcoating it. It’s a pending, looming disaster heading our way.”
Egger’s story also highlighted other comments made by Gruters about the midterms, such as “We are facing almost certain defeat,” as well as “The chances are Republicans will go down and will go down hard.” The RNC chair made the comments earlier this week in radio interviews with SiriusXM Patriot with Mike Slater, WBT Charlotte’s The Brett Winterble Show, Cats & Cosby on WABC in New York City, and the nationally syndicated Chris Stigall Show, respectively, The Bulwark reported.
Egger wrote in his article that “these pessimistic assessments of Republicans’ chances in next year’s midterms are the sort of thing you’d expect to hear from disgruntled GOP operatives outside the MAGA camp.”
“This week, however, they’ve been coming from someone way crazier: Joe Gruters, the Trump-diehard chair of the Republican National Committee, who has been barnstorming conservative radio this week,” he added.
“How much does Harvard charge these [days] to learn how to report bullshit?” RNC Research, an X account managed by the RNC, wrote in a Friday post to X. The post also included quotes from several of Gruters’ recent remarks that are longer than those Egger cited in his article.
RNC Research replied to the Democratic Party’s X account in a separate post to X on Friday, writing, “Here’s the full quote you, scumbags: Gruters: ‘I LIKE OUR CHANCES IN THE MIDTERMS but let me put in perspective only three times in the last hundred years has the incumbent party been successful winning a midterm. We’re facing almost certain defeat. The only person who can bring the nose up and help us win is the President of the United States Donald J. Trump.’”
The Democrats had posted a photograph of Gruters superimposed with the words “We are facing almost certain defeat.” The image had the caption, “RNC Chair Joe Gruters on Republicans’ midterm chances.”
Gruters wrote in an X post on Friday that Democrats are “desperate to find any reason to erode confidence in President Trump and Republicans’ agenda.”
“What’s true: The Party in power has only won the Midterms 3 times in the last 100 years,” Gruters wrote in the social media post. “What’s true: The American people trust the President. What’s true: This country is better off with Republicans in charge. What’s true: We will win in 2026.”
RNC spokeswoman Kiersten Pels wrote Friday in an X post that if Egger “had done even the bare minimum and reached out for comment,” The Bulwark “might have avoided publishing these stupid, desperate lies.” Pels wrote further that she believes The Bulwark “is nothing more than a bunch of shameless hacks pretending to be journalists.”
“The Bulwark is actively laundering DNC talking points and calling it news,” Pels told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement. “They did not reach out for comment and instead manipulated a transcript to remove the line: ‘I like our chances in the midterms’ in order [to] orchestrate this sloppy hit piece against Chairman Gruters.”
Egger later replied to Pels on X, accusing the RNC of deleting a recording on Soundcloud of Gruters’ remarks.
“Interestingly, the RNC, after accusing me of telling ‘stupid, desperate lies’ for transcribing remarks the RNC chair made in public and which the RNC uploaded to their own Soundcloud account, has now deleted each of those Soundcloud recordings (which I had linked to in the piece),” Egger wrote in the social media post.
Pels later replied to Egger on X, asking “Why did you delete the quote ‘I like our chances in the midterms’ from your so-called ‘transcript.’”
Moreover, the Democrats’ official X account posted a photo of Gruters that also displays the quote about Republicans “facing almost certain defeat” that was attributed to him, captioned with a nodding face emoji.
In a separate post on Friday afternoon, Egger also encouraged his followers on X to read The Bulwark article and see for themselves.
The RNC elected Gruters, who had Trump’s backing, to serve as its 67th chair in August.
The Bulwark presents itself as a “pro-democracy” outlet and is widely considered to be linked to the “Never Trump” movement.
Midterm elections generally favor the party that does not hold the White House. An incumbent president’s party has not picked up House seats in a midterm election since 2002.
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