Donald Trump’s response to the Democrats’ midterm victories is utterly unhinged

The Democratic Party has had a phenomenal set of results in the US midterm election. At the time of writing, results are still coming in. But it is clear now that the Democrats have taken control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

In the Senate, the Democrats gained at least seven seats from the Republicans. These include swing states like North Carolina, Iowa and Ohio. But, in a sensational night for the Democrats, they also took staunch Republican seats like Kansas, South Carolina and Texas. In Texas, the Democrats won their first Senate seat since 1988.

The Democrats also had a good night in the House of Representatives, winning a majority in the lower chamber. The party made big gains in Pennsylvania, Iowa and Wisconsin.

As you would no doubt expect, the US president Donald Trump hasn’t taken any of this well. His response has been utterly unhinged.

In a series of posts on Truth Social – the social media platform which Trump himself owns – Trump has given his reaction to the midterm results.

With the results coming in, Trump claimed that if he was on the ballot in the elections, the Republicans would have won a landslide, criticised his own party’s candidates and blamed Fox News for the Democratic victory. He also implied he would veto legislation passed by the now Democrat-controlled Congress.

In one post, Trump said: “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. President DONALD J. TRUMP”

In another, Trump criticised the Republican candidate in Texas – who was defeated in his bid to be re-elected as governor of Texas. He said: “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! President DONALD J. TRUMP”

He later blamed the right-wing media outlet Fox News for the Republicans suffering an historic defeat in the midterms, saying: “FoxNews bears responsibility for these losses by constantly and consistently putting on the Dumocrat opposition, and worse. GOD BLESS AMERICA! President DONALD J. TRUMP”

And building on comments he had made earlier in the night in which he said he would use his presidential veto to block legislation coming out of Congress, Trump posted a photo of a ‘Make America Great Again’ style baseball cap which simply had the word ‘veto’ emblazoned on it.

All a very, very normal response to the voters giving their verdict on your record in office…

Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward

Image credit: Gage Skidmore – Creative Commons