WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump likes to play make-believe with his supporters.

“Just close your eyes,” he tells them, “and pretend I'm on the ballot.”

It's a typically self-involved appeal from someone who has been the center of the nation's political gravity for more than a decade. Now, he's finishing the midterms with a cross-country blitz of campaign rallies that allow him to bask in applause when he's otherwise profoundly unpopular.

In a year marked by the war with Iran , fears about artificial intelligence , redistricting fights , high energy prices and increasing concerns about the cost of living , Trump's deeply personal approach might be the election cycle's biggest gamble.

Republicans still love the president, who remains dominant even as he approaches the back half of his second term.…