President Trump shrugged off the midterm shellacking his party faced — one of the largest political wipeouts in modern American history — and made an overture to Democrats on the heels of their stunning victory.
“The Democrats did a good job,” he conceded to Fox News in a post-election phone call, pledging to work across the aisle during the lame-duck term and beyond. “They fought hard.”
“Well, I say this: congratulations to the Democrats,” he later added. “They did a good job. They’ve been looking for this one for 11 years, and they finally got it.”
Trump’s rare conciliatory tone toward Democrats was reminiscent of his attitude during the aftermath of the 2018 blue wave Republicans faced in the first Trump administration. However, despite his happy talk about working with Democrats, he quickly clashed with them bitterly and went on to face two impeachments.
Still, Trump reiterated that he is open to working with Democrats as they retake both the House and Senate, relegating him to lame-duck status during the final two years of his presidency.
At times, Trump signaled shock at how Democrats performed so strongly at the polls, insisting that if he had been on the ballot, things would have been different.
“If I was on the ballot, they would have gotten out,” Trump said of his supporters. “Look, they got out for the rallies. You never saw rallies that big. I mean, outside of the rallies I have, when I have, you know, the general election, which is you know a step above, in all fairness, like maybe a few steps above.”
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When asked to give a postmortem of the midterm results, Trump acknowledged that “part of it was Iran,” but blamed high fuel costs as one of the driving factors behind the Republican wipeout.
“People agree with what I’m doing on Iran, but they really probably weren’t willing to do the short-term consequence of paying more for gasoline. I understand that. I don’t agree with it,” Trump said.
The president also made clear that he isn’t planning any major staffing shakeups, concluding the results “had nothing to do with my cabinet.”
Democrats have mused about impeaching cabinet officials such as Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
As the results trickled in, Trump poured salt on the wounds of some of the Republicans who last, blasting Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as a “RINO,” meaning “Republican in name only.” Abbott lost his governor’s race, and Attorney General Ken Paxton lost the Senate race in the Lone Star State, a stunning defeat for the GOP in a ruby-red state.
Trump also teased that he is still open-minded about his next moves with Iran.
“Certainly, if Iran doesn’t behave, I will,” Trump replied when asked if he plans to resume strikes. “And if they do, you know, we can sign something up. And if it’s going to be binding and good, and they’re never going to have a nuclear weapon, good.”
“Otherwise, I’ll just finish the job very easily. We have the greatest military in the world.”
