Donald Trump has played kingmaker for years in Republican races, including in GOP primaries this midterm season, but his coattails were in tatters on Tuesday night.
Democrats regained control of the House and the Senate in a blue wave that swept through traditional Republican strongholds like Kansas, South Carolina, and Texas.
Trump handpicked several Senate candidates who were easily defeated, including Ken Paxton in Texas, Michael Whatley in North Carolina, Mike Collins in Georgia, and Darline Graham in South Carolina.
Trump’s gubernatorial picks Vivek Ramaswamy in Ohio and Steve Hilton in California also went down to defeat, though Byron Donalds in Florida squeaked out a victory.
The results clearly angered Trump, who went on a rant with a series of posts on his Truth Social account late Tuesday.
“If Greg Abbott, the Governor of Texas, hadn’t become a RINO in the last six months of his Political Life, he wouldn’t have lost. He went back to his original formula, and it wasn’t pretty!” Trump posted.
Abbott lost his re-election bid even after reversing from his earlier pro-data center stance amid a broad backlash against AI. But while in office, he had been a staunch conservative and strong Trump supporter.
While stumping for Republican candidates around the country, Trump exhorted voters to pretend that he was on the ballot. That’s despite his war on Iran and tariffs raising prices for consumers.
But on Tuesday, he distanced himself from the large slate of candidate that he endorsed.
“I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!” he said on Truth Social.
A White House official echoed that view and suggested the candidates were to blame, not the president.
“President Trump was not on the ballot, and it’s proven that Trump voters show up when he is on the ballot,” a source told NewsNation. “Also, candidate quality matters, and President Trump did a better job promoting many of the candidates on the ballot than the candidates did themselves.”
Trump also lashed out at Fox News, saying its rating are down because they’re spending too much time covering the “Trump Deranged Dumocrats!”
“All of those people who used to watch Fox, and no longer do, get it. It’s them, not me — My numbers are better than they have ever been,” he added.
And for good measure, Trump dumped on Fox’s polls. “Every question is a hit job, and every answer is “BULLS–T!” This has been going on for years.”