Donald Trump Says Midterms Defeat was Not His Fault and Blames Poor Candidates — 'I Thought They'd Do Better'
Donald Trump attemped to absolve himself from any blame following crushing Midterms losses.
Nov. 4 2026, Updated 7:46 a.m. ET
Donald Trump has attempted to distance himself from the Republicans' crushing Midterms losses.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the wounded president, 80, instead blamed GoP candidates for the disaster in the polls, which saw Democrats seize control of both the House and Senate.
'We Would Have Won IN A LANDSLIDE!'
Trump claims results would have looked different if he was on the ballot.
The Senate result expanded well beyond North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas, with Democrat breakthroughs including Kansas, Iowa and Michigan.
Taking to Truth Social on Tuesday night, Trump was adamant the results were not a personal response to his presidency.
He ranted: "I wasn't on the ballot, and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!"
Trump's mood had got progressively worse during the night, even before the results were revealed as he turned on his usual allies.
Writing on Truth Social, he said: "Watching the Pre-Election Results on FoxNews, but I can’t stand Jessica Tarlov's voice — DUMB AS A ROCK, but it’s the voice that gets me. Have to go somewhere else until that LOSER is off the air—I’ll be back later!"
Trump Lays Into Fox News
The president took issue with Fox News' reporting.
The criticism did not stop there. As anchor Greg Gutfeld read aloud a text message he said he received from Trump with additional critique of Tarlov, Trump continued to share thoughts on Fox's coverage on social media.
"The FoxNews Poll, always the worst, is so insulting with the questions they ask. Every question is a hit job, and every answer is "BULLS---!" he wrote, before taking aim at the network’s ratings writing: "FoxNews Ratings are way down (27%!) because they’re spending too much time covering the Trump Deranged Dumocrats!"
He even blamed the network for the losses, adding: "FoxNews bears responsibility for these losses by constantly and consistently putting on the Dumocrat opposition, and worse."
'I Am Absolutely Willing To Accept Those Results'
Trump was dignified in defeat during some aspects of the Midterms.
When the results did come through, Trump says he had no regrets supporting Sen. Darline Graham and Ken Paxton, and that he would accept the results. "I am absolutely willing to accept those results," he said.
And despite attacking the network earlier in the night, Trump called in to Fox News in a more reflective mood, admitting high gas prices was a factor in the defeat, we well as his candidates who turned against him.
He said: "They didn’t like the candidates, and some of the candidates that I endorsed fought me, and they didn’t like it."
Asked about the war with Iran showing up in exit polls, Trump said: "I think it’s the gasoline price." Gas prices were above $4 a gallon nationally on Election Day and had emerged as a significant issue for voters during the campaign.
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Trump even praised the Democrats.
Most surprising of all, Trump then gave Democrats credit for their performance, saying: "I think the Democrats did a good job. I really do. They fought hard."
But he resisted viewing the results as a personal defeat, saying he doesn’t "like to consider it a defeat for me" and adding: "If you're on the ballot, it’s different than if you’re not on the ballot."
Trump also presented the night as history repeating itself rather than a judgment on him. "It's just a point in time," he said.
"There was a mood in the air, I guess." He noted that a sitting president’s party almost always loses ground in a midterm. "No matter how good the president is, you lose," Trump said. "I don’'t know why. Nobody’s explained that."
