US President Donald Trump’s Republican Party has taken a step closer to staging a highly unusual party convention to prop him up and sell his message to voters ahead of crucial midterm elections in November.At a meeting in Santa Barbara, California, the Republican National Committee (RNC) voted Friday to amend party bylaws to clear the way for a planned midterm convention, as polling shows support for the 79-year-old president waning.The midterm elections, historically unfavorable to the party in power, is the key political issue of 2026 for Trump and Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress.RNC chair Joe Gruters however is upbeat that his party will retain majorities in both the Senate and House of Representatives.”We’re going to defy history, because we have the best president that ever lived,” he said. “What he’s done in a single year, most presidents can’t do in eight years.”Conventions organized by the main two US parties normally happen every four years, to officially anoint their presidential nominees before a general election.But this unconventional convention will be “a Trump-palooza,” Gruters said.”There’s no better way than to sell the message that the president has given us to the American people.”Jake Hoffman, a Republican state senator in Arizona, said the midterm convention “is a great opportunity to tell the story of Republican success.””Under President Donald Trump, the economy’s back on track, deportations are happening,” he said.However, a year after Trump returned to power, the warning signs have piled up showing that many American people are unhappy with his policies and performance — particularly on bread-and-butter economic issues.Beyond his devoted base of MAGA voters, a majority of Americans complain in polls about a president who cares too much about international ventures, such as Venezuela and Greenland, and who doesn’t do enough to bring down the cost of living.- Headwinds -Trump’s crackdown against undocumented immigrants — a key domestic initiative — is also being increasingly criticized by independent voters, as vivid images of masked agents roaming calm neighborhoods spread online.A controversial operation in Minnesota has also made daily headlines and resulted in the deaths of two American citizens by federal agents.Even Joe Rogan, the popular podcaster who supported Trump during his 2024 campaign, has likened the Trump administration’s tactics to those of Nazi Germany.Faced with such headwinds, Trump will campaign for the midterms as if these polls were a presidential race, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said this week. – ‘This president cares’ -Republicans, especially in electoral swing states, are trying to sell the message that Trump’s policies, which include steep tariffs on imports from many countries, are putting the economy on the right track.”This president cares about the American worker,” Gruters said a week after the commander-in-chief, while visiting a Ford factory near Detroit, flashed a middle finger to an auto worker who challenged him about his past friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” a fiscal and spending law enacted last year, is starting to trickle into wages for Americans, said Michael McDonald, head of the Republican Party in Nevada.  “As the law starts to take effect, it’s starting to bring it into the paycheck,” he told AFP.But for political scientist Wendy Schiller, turning the 2026 midterms into a referendum for or against the president is a double-edged sword as tariffs and cuts to health care coverage start to bite. “If he tries to tell everybody that things aren’t really that expensive and that the economy is great, he’s not going to be helpful to them, because voters do not believe that,” said the professor at Brown University.”The danger to the GOP (Republican Party) is that this midterm convention turns into a Trump loyalty show and then all their candidates get saddled with a president who is under water in the polls on every major issue.”

Federal immigration agents shot dead a man in Minneapolis on Saturday, in the second fatal shooting of a civilian during the Trump administration’s unprecedented operation in the city, sparking fresh protests and outrage from state officials.The death came less than three weeks after US citizen Renee Good was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE) officer.On Saturday, as after Good’s death, federal and local officials offered differing assessments of the man’s killing, while video of the altercation quickly spread online.Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called the shooting “horrific” and demanded state authorities lead the investigation.”The federal government cannot be trusted to lead this investigation. The state will handle it, period,” Walz told a press conference.Federal authorities controversially blocked local investigators from jointly probing Good’s death.The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) insisted the man killed Saturday, identified by local media as 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti, “approached” agents with a pistol and then “violently resisted” being disarmed.However video of the incident, which AFP has not verified, shows Pretti on a snow-covered sidewalk apparently trying to shield a woman protester from being doused with chemical spray, when an agent pulls Pretti to the icy road.Several agents then struggle to detain him, and seconds later an officer opens fire on Pretti, whose body is then shot multiple times from a distance.Crowds quickly gathered in the wake of the shooting, despite the sub-freezing temperatures and making state law enforcement unable to secure the scene, Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bob Jacobson told a briefing.US President Donald Trump meanwhile ratcheted up his war of words with Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, accusing the Democratic leaders of “inciting insurrection” with their rhetoric. Trump has previously threatened to send troops to Minnesota by invoking the Insurrection Act.- ‘End this operation’ -Frey urged Trump to end the federal immigration operation, which has sparked sometimes violent demonstrations.”This is a moment to act like a leader. Put Minneapolis, put America first in this moment — let’s achieve peace. Let’s end this operation.”Police chief Brian O’Hara said an “incredibly volatile scene” had erupted after the shooting and urged residents to avoid the area. Officers who declared the protest an unlawful assembly deployed clouds of tear gas as the crowd grew and used dumpsters to make blockades on the road in the busy south Minneapolis neighborhood known for its restaurants.Local resident Maria, 56, told AFP the situation in the city was “escalating.””They’re attacking and terrorizing our communities right now,” she said describing the situation as “white terror.” DHS wrote on X that “an individual approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun” and that its officers tried to disarm the man who they say “violently resisted.””Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots. Medics on scene immediately delivered medical aid to the subject but was pronounced dead at the scene,” DHS said.O’Hara said police believed the victim was a “lawful gun owner with a permit to carry.”Minnesota allows the open carrying of firearms with a permit.- ‘Horrific shooting’ -Earlier, Walz said he had discussed “another horrific shooting by federal agents” with the White House.”Minnesota has had it. This is sickening,” he said on X. “The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now.”Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar called the shooting “an execution” and accused Trump of transforming Minneapolis into a “war zone.”Thousands of ICE agents have been deployed to the Democratic-led city, as Trump presses a sweeping campaign to deport undocumented migrants.Minneapolis has been rocked by increasingly tense protests since federal agents shot and killed Good, a US citizen, on January 7.An autopsy concluded that the killing was a homicide, a classification that does not automatically mean a crime was committed.Public outrage was rekindled this week by the detention of a five-year-old boy as agents sought to arrest his father.The Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday canceled their NBA fixture in the city following the incident, and an afternoon carnival parade was also scrapped.