President Donald Trump has been posting through the U.S. midterm elections, and he doesn’t appear happy with the results.
Millions of Americans went to the polls on Tuesday, casting their vote to choose their members of Congress. Democrats decisively took control of both the Senate and House of Representatives in a sweeping midterm victory, one which featured several upsets. South Carolina elected Annie Andrews as its first Democratic senator in 28 years. Texas voted in James Talarico as its first Democratic senator in over 30 years. Even Kansas swung blue, with Adam Hamilton becoming the first Democrat elected to its Senate seat in 94 years.
Still, it’s possible that nobody was more upset than Trump. The U.S. president characteristically took to his social media platform Truth Social on election night, expressing his displeasure with the midterm’s results as they came in.
Trump’s day started off well, the president posting at 12:07 p.m. ET / 9:07 a.m. PT that Guam had been called as a Republican victory. Guam has elected Republican Tony Ada as governor, taking the position from the Democrats for the first time since 2014.
“Guam, which has always been considered strongly Democrat, just had an early call for a REPUBLICAN Victory in the top spot, Governor — Congratulations to Tony Ada!” he wrote. “Also, the Republicans have the Majority in the State Senate. Wow, hopefully that’s an indication for things to come!”
However, Guam’s election was separate from the U.S. midterm elections, and had no impact on the makeup of the Senate or House. Once the midterm results began rolling in, the Republicans’ situation began looking less rosy.
At 4:11 p.m. ET / 1:11 p.m. PT, Trump shared a screenshot from right-wing YouTuber Benny Johnson in which he claimed that “Republicans are currently showing signs of PRESIDENTIAL-LEVEL midterms turnout already on Election Day.” The president also posted that had been watching the pre-election results on Fox News, sharing a clip of commentators praising him. Republican pollster Matt Towery refuted the New York Times‘ prediction of a “blue surge” in the video, stating that his own polling placed both parties much more evenly matched.
Despite this, Trump began attacking Fox News by 6:36 p.m. ET / 3:36 p.m. PT, shortly after the first polls started to close.
“The FoxNews Poll, always the worst, is so insulting with the questions they ask. Every question is a hit job, and every answer is ‘BULLSHIT!'” wrote the U.S. president.
Trump continued to criticise Fox News less than half an hour later at 7:00 p.m. ET / 4:00 p.m. PT, claiming that its ratings are down “because they’re spending too much time covering the Trump Deranged Dumocrats.” Fox News’ viewership is down 27 percent compared to the same time last year, with Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch blaming “viewer fatigue” after “some incredible news cycle[s] the last [few] years.”
“All of those people who used to watch Fox, and no longer do, get it,” Trump wrote. “It’s them, not me — My numbers are better than they have ever been.”
Trump’s approval rating fell to a record low just prior to the midterm elections, a Reuters/Ipsos poll finding that just 31 percent of Americans approve of his performance in office.
“The new CNN Poll stated that ‘TRUMP’ is at 99% among Republicans,” Trump continued, misinterpreting a 2024 poll in which Trump received 99 percent of the “MAGA GOP” vote specifically when put up against Democrat Kamala Harris.
“Among Republican Presidents, ‘TRUMP’ is at 53%, compared to Ronald Reagan at 18%, and Abraham Lincoln at 8%!,” he wrote, citing a CNN poll asking Republicans which president throughout history they most admire. The same poll found that 64 percent of Democrats most admired former president Barack Obama. Without accounting for party affiliation, 30 percent chose Obama, while 19 percent named Trump.
“No wonder FoxNews Ratings are collapsing, and they’re going to go down a lot further,” Trump posted, further blasting Fox Corp. for donating to Democratic candidates. Fox Corp. donates to both Republicans and Democrats. “They’re way down, not because of me, but because they are AGAINST me!”
By the time of Trump’s next posts at around 10:37 p.m. ET / 7:37 p.m. PT, the midterm election results were clearly indicating a Democratic sweep.
“I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I’m going to become a Political Pundit, both good and bad, on the reasons these Candidates won and lost!”
The president then posted an image of a red cap with the word “veto” embroidered upon it, reminiscent of his “Make America Great Again” hats. Calling in to Fox News, Trump said he was “a little bit surprised” by the midterm election results, and stated that he intended to deal with the Democratic majority Senate and House by blocking its attempts to pass legislation.
“It’s the power of veto, it’s one of the stronger powers that a president has. And they’ll send all the things that are insane and I’ll veto them and after a couple of months of vetos they’ll come over and they’ll say, ‘how do we get this stuff done?’ and we’ll work together,” said Trump. “I have the power of veto. The power of veto is impervious.”
The U.S. Constitution does allow presidents to refuse to sign legislation, however it is not impassable. Congress can override a president’s veto if it has a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate.
While Trump called in to speak to Fox News, he also blamed the program for the Republicans candidates’ poor results. The U.S. president ended midterm election night by claiming on Truth Social that Fox News “bears responsibility for these losses by constantly and consistently putting on the Dumocrat opposition.” Many former Republican voters have reported growing disillusionment with the party since Trump took office for his second term, disapproving of how he has handled issues such as the economy and the war in Iran.
Source: https://mashable.com/life/us-midterm-elections-trump-reaction-post
