Good morning. Welcome to Axios today. It's Tuesday, August 10th. I'm Nyla Boone. Here's

what we're watching today. The Taliban seizes more cities in Afghanistan. Plus, why it's

extra easy to get a car loan right now. But first, today's one big thing. Inside the

GOP's current playback. It may seem like the 2022 midterms are far away, but they're

closer than you think. We're already halfway through 2021. And issues like rising crime,

border crossings, and inflation are starting to shape our political discourse and these

early campaigns. Tough guy is the political reporter for Axios and has been tracking, especially

how GOP candidates are using the latest headlines. Good morning, Staff. Good morning, Nyla.

So it's too soon to know or predict how the 2022 midterms are going to shake out. We're

not talking about that, but why is it important to start paying attention to this early messaging?

Well, first of all, it's because as you pointed out, 2022 is right around the corner.

And Republicans are gunning to take back control of Congress, both chambers of Congress

if they can. And so we're starting to see that strategy play out now. And of course,

typically the minority party already has an advantage. It's expected that they're going

to make gains at least a little bit in the midterm season. But we're also starting to

see the GOP really pick on a few key issues that have become big issues lately. That includes

inflation, the rising of prices, rising crime in cities. They want to try to tie that

to democratic calls to defund the police last year. And then also the rise in border

crossings we've been seeing lately.

As we see members of Congress heading home for the next few weeks, what specifically

are you going to hear from Republican lawmakers? And does that depend on what part of the

country they're in, whether you'll hear more about, say, rising crime versus inflation

...