US President Donald Trump responds to sweeping Democratic victories in the US midterm elections by deflecting blame from himself and arguing that Republicans would have performed better if he had been on the ballot. Multiple outlets report that Trump frames the results as the outcome of factors other than his own role in the election cycle.
According to reports, Trump tells Fox News that he expected he could “transfer” people into candidates and expresses surprise at the outcome. Other coverage says he also argues that his absence from the ballot is the reason Republicans did not win, claiming his presence would have delivered a landslide victory. RTE similarly reports that Trump accepts the result while maintaining that Republicans would have won in a “landslide” had he been running.
Right-leaning coverage emphasizes Trump’s effort to “save face,” focusing on his denial that he is responsible for the losses and his claim that poor candidates drove the defeat. Across sources, the central theme is Trump’s insistence that the outcome would have been different under different circumstances, even as at least one outlet notes he acknowledges the result.
