GOP canvassers are being threatened with cops by furious Republican voters: report

Republican leaders at the state level are desperately trying to convince the White House that Donald Trump's Iran war, combined with skyrocketing food and gas prices, is heading toward a catastrophic midterm collapse for the party.
According to Politico's Samuel Benson and Liz Crampton, there are serious concerns that Republican candidate turnout will plummet significantly. GOP canvassers knocking on doors have encountered registered Republicans literally chasing them away with threats to call the police.
Each passing week of war compounds the economic damage. Economists warn gas prices could remain elevated for months even if the U.S. immediately de-escalates with Iran. Extended conflict also risks mounting American casualties, particularly if ground troops deploy to combat zones — a nightmare scenario for a president who promised to end "forever wars."
The political danger is acute. MAGA voters backed Trump partly because of their explicit rejection of endless foreign interventions and regime change operations. The war threatens to demoralize the very base Trump needs to show up in November.
GOP strategists and county chairs acknowledge the crisis, though they're still willing to give Trump time to course-correct.
"What's the end game? I don't think the president has been clear about that," said Todd Gillman, chair of the Monroe County Republican Party in Michigan. "The gas prices are a problem. We're concerned how this might affect the midterms."
Craig Berland, chair of the Maricopa County, Arizona, Republican Party, described the turnout threat bluntly.
"I don't think it's going to impact Republicans' desire to vote Republican, but I do believe that that turnout will be an issue," Berland said. "If the war drags on, that is going to impact the turnout, unless we are very, very successful in communicating and educating."
The on-the-ground reality is even more dire than internal polls suggest.
"We're even going around canvassing neighborhoods and registered Republicans are yelling out the door, 'go away, or I'm calling the police,'" Berland said. "I find that very discouraging."
The rage stems from two sources: "the war or the economy. And the economy is defined largely by energy prices."
Buzz Jacobs, a GOP strategist and White House official under George W. Bush, warned that wars consume all political oxygen.
"These types of major events can become all-consuming. They certainly suck up political capital, and they make it very difficult for the most senior officials, particularly the President, to focus on any other strategic objective."
Farmers are getting hammered. Disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz have sent fertilizer prices skyrocketing just ahead of planting season across Pennsylvania, North Dakota, and other agricultural states. Desperate producers are scrambling to replant with crops requiring less fertilizer — a decision that could trigger lower yields and spike food prices this summer.
North Dakota Farmers Union President Matt Perdue acknowledged the compounding crisis.
"We've had just a pile of uncertainty, a pile of volatility in the markets that we buy from and sell to and we're just creating more volatility, more uncertainty as we move ahead."
Farmers have historically been Republicans' most loyal constituency and Trump supporters. But now they're facing a devastating dual catastrophe: tariffs that destroyed foreign markets for their crops, combined with war-driven fertilizer costs that are obliterating their margins.