'Anybody believe this was honest?' Trump revives fraud claims after midterm results

In a turn of events, US President Donald Trump has questioned the legitimacy of the midterm election results, reviving claims about electoral fraud that he repeatedly made after losing the 2020 presidential election.

In a post on Truth Social made on Monday, Trump questioned how pre-election polls had failed to predict the scale of Democratic victories and alleged that large batches of early votes had made it impossible for Republican candidates to win. “Does anybody really believe that this ‘Election’ was honest. How could the Polls be so wrong???” Trump wrote. “Some early voting ‘dumps’ were so large that it was impossible to win, no matter how many people went to vote. It’s all about the machines, which are far more important than the voter!”

The post marked a shift from Trump's relatively conciliatory response to the Republican losses. After the results emerged last Tuesday, he congratulated Democrats, saying they had done a “good job”, and told reporters he did not consider the outcome a personal defeat because he had not been on the ballot. He also told The New York Times last week that he was “absolutely willing” to accept the election results. However, in remarks last month, Trump had qualified that position, saying he would accept the outcome “if they're honest elections”.

Republicans suffered significant setbacks across the country, including in states traditionally considered their strongholds. Democrats regained control of both chambers of Congress, dealing a major blow to Trump's political standing midway through his term. Trump's Truth Social post echoes his response to the 2020 presidential election, when he repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that widespread ballot fraud had cost him victory against Joe Biden. His allegations were followed by dozens of unsuccessful legal challenges to election procedures and culminated in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.