President Donald Trump sought to distance himself from Republicans’ bruising midterm election losses Tuesday night, claiming his party would have fared better had he been up for reelection.
“I wasn’t on the ballot, and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday evening. “Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
With millions of ballots still being counted, early results point to a brutal night for Republicans, leading Fox News’ Sean Hannity to moan: “I wish it was two years ago.”
Democrats are projected to win control of both the House and Senate in a dramatic rebuke of the Republican Party, according to The Associated Press. The party flipped seats in several traditionally Republican states, including Texas and South Carolina.
Trump’s post followed a flurry of Election Day activity on Truth Social, where he shared dozens of endorsements of GOP candidates and repeatedly lashed out at Fox News, accusing the network of turning “AGAINST me.”
‘Pretend I’m on the ballot’
Trump’s latest remarks marked a departure from his message in recent months, when he sought to cast the midterms as a referendum on his presidency. During campaign rallies across the country, he repeatedly urged supporters to “pretend I’m on the ballot.”
“Please pretend I’m on the ballot cause in a way I am on the ballot, because they want to do away with all of the tremendous things we’ve done,” the 80-year-old president said during an October rally in North Carolina.
“Can everybody just close your eyes and pretend I’m on the ballot?” he said at another campaign event in Alabama.
Some Republicans worried that Trump’s decision to put himself at the center of the midterms would cost them at the polls. His approval ratings are historically low, and voters are frustrated with many of his policies, including the ongoing war in Iran and his handling of the cost of living.
“We've told them he cannot come,” a senior Republican working on a competitive House race told Politico in September. “Candidly, he would not be helpful here.”
A House Republican in a competitive race described the conundrum they faced: “You're f***ed if you mention him too much, and you're also f***ed if you don't stay in his good graces.”
Also in September, Texas GOP candidate Ken Paxton privately blamed Trump for dragging down his chances.
“It's the war, it's gas prices, it's diesel,” Paxton told donors, according to leaked audio obtained by Axios. “When it's over $6 per gallon for diesel ... people are feeling the pinch.”
Polling also suggested the president’s strategy could backfire.
A Politico survey conducted last month found that Democratic voters were more motivated to turn out to oppose Trump than Republican voters were to cast ballots in support of him and GOP candidates.
Despite the pushback, Trump forged ahead, holding lengthy midterm rallies across the country where he frequently spent more time touting his own achievements than promoting GOP candidates. Often, his speeches veered into rambling digressions about everything from men’s behinds to the price of a burger at Mar-a-Lago.
