Politics
Trump Reacts to Midterm Rout: 'I Wasn't on the Ballot'
After three silent hours on election night, the president said he did not view the results as a hit on him, told the New York Times he would accept the outcome, and said he would work with Democrats.
President Donald Trump watched election returns from the White House East Room on Tuesday night and went silent on Truth Social for three hours as Democratic victories piled up, CNN reported.
Just after 10:30 p.m., he posted: "I wasn't on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!" In a live phone interview with Fox News, he said "I thought they'd do better" about Republican candidates, attributed the losses to a "mood in the air," and said "I don't view it as a hit on me."
Trump told the New York Times he is "absolutely willing" to accept the results and said "We'll work with the Democrats." He told the Wall Street Journal that the war in Iran was only a "piece" of the outcome, and also blamed candidates and Fox News coverage.
Exit polls conducted by SSRS for a consortium of major outlets and the Associated Press found that half of voters nationwide said they saw the election as an opportunity to rebuke the president. Reuters reported that voters cited affordability and corruption, tariffs and the Iran war among their concerns.
The practical consequences are immediate even before the new Congress is seated in January: Trump retains the veto, so Democrats will need either his signature or veto-proof majorities to pass legislation, while the incoming House speaker, Democrat Hakeem Jeffries, is poised to set the House agenda.
Reporting: CNN
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