Trump said something Trump-y about the election results
On Tuesday night, as the election results crawled in from across the country, Donald Trump said something truly unexpected when he was asked to reflect on his involvement in determining the outcome.
“I think if they win, I should get all of the credit, and if they lose, I should not be blamed,” Trump told Fox News. “But it will probably just be the opposite.”
In Trump’s America, he is constantly dedicated to personal responsibility and good results. All the bad things that happen are always someone else’s fault– some losers or haters who want to drag him down. And everything good is because of his actions.
Maggie Haberman, New York Times White House correspondent, said in her tweet on Wednesday:
“Trump is furious this morning, particularly about Mehmet Oz, and blames everyone who advised him to back Oz – including his wife. His decision was not her best.”
Data tells a different story
Trump did not do well in this poll, with only 39% of voters viewing him favourably and 58% viewing him unfavourably. The numbers put him below Joe Biden, who was seen favourably by 41% of voters and unfavourably by 56%.
Exit polling also confirms that Trump was a drag on Republican candidates. In exit polling, almost 1 in 3 voters (28%) said that they had voted to send a message of opposition to the former president—that’s 10% of all voters. These 90%-8% Democratic House winners can be attributed to these protest votes. Conversely, nearly half of 2018’s House GOP survivors (47%) represent districts where less than 5% voted for them as a “message for the opposition.”
Regardless of the final numbers, there’s evidence that Donald Trump played a significant role in this election. He endorsed candidates in gubernatorial races in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Illinois, and Michigan, who all lost convincingly due to their failure to develop a winning general election message. In Arizona, Kari Lake – endorsed by Trump – is trailing despite the point that there are still a lot of ballots left to be counted.
Last night, some of Trump’s endorsed candidates were successful as well. Oz’s endorsed candidates in North Carolina and Ohio won the Senate seat. The Georgia Senate race is still too early to call for Herschel Walker and Sen. Raphael Warnock. In Arizona, Adam Daxalt leads with Trump’s endorsement over Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto. Finally, in Nevada – where Trump held a rally last night – Laxalt has a slight lead on Cortez Masto.
But it’s a mixed record and not one that Trump can tout as something he took credit for. And not one he can avoid any blame for.
There you have it. Trump said something Trump-y about the election results. As always, he is full of himself and completely wrong. But we’ve come to expect that from him by now. Hopefully, this encourages people to vote in future elections because every vote counts!