He bows to the verdict of the polls but refuses to bear its weight. Donald Trump said Tuesday that he “accepted” the result of the mid-term elections, which saw a Democratic wave sweeping the country, but refused to take responsibility for it. “I am completely willing to accept these results,” he told the New York Times. “We will work with the Democrats; we look forward to, you know, working with them. We will probably be able to find common ground.” The American president, in a surprisingly conciliatory tone, also judged that his Democratic opponents had “done a good job” and had “fought well”.
Faced with the magnitude of the gains of the opposition, which has already won the House of Representatives and is in a good position to also win the Senate, that is to say take control of the entire Congress, the Republican therefore does not intend to contest the verdict of the ballot boxes.
This was not a given, coming from someone who still refuses to acknowledge his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, and who had launched accusations of fraud even before the “midterms”.
Denial or defiance?
But the American president is not prepared to concede a personal defeat on Tuesday, even if Americans have overwhelmingly condemned his record, in particular the war in Iran and the rise in the cost of living that this conflict has caused. “I was not on the ballot and if I had been, we would have won LARGELY,” wrote the 80-year-old billionaire on his Truth Social platform, after having nevertheless called on his supporters during the campaign to mobilize as if he were running for office himself.
A US official spoke to AFP of an attitude of “challenge” reigning at the White House, from where the Republican president is following the results with ministers and advisers. “A final warning: No matter what happens today, President Trump will only be more determined to stop the radical left. Fasten your seat belts,” declared this White House official, at the conclusion of a message which also sought to exonerate the Republican billionaire.
The president “was not on the ballot and it is proven that Trump voters will vote when he is on the ballot,” said this source, also judging that the “quality” of the Republican candidates left something to be desired. “President Trump campaigned better than many candidates themselves,” she judged, referring to the numerous meetings and trips by Donald Trump in recent weeks. However, the American president himself oversaw the selection of his camp's candidates.
“They are AGAINST me”
Donald Trump's bad mood had filtered through even before the polls began to deliver their verdict. In a short time, the President of the United States published three messages on his Truth Social network attacking Fox News, the favorite channel of American conservatives, accused of deliberately harming it. In one of them, he attacks a speaker on set, “dumb as her feet”, in another, he criticizes the channel's polls, which reflect the dissatisfaction of Americans with his record. “They are AGAINST me,” he accuses in a third post, about Fox News.
After these Democratic successes, Donald Trump will certainly be targeted by numerous investigations launched by the House of Representatives. If the Senate also switches, it will largely lose its power of appointment, particularly in the event of a vacancy in the Supreme Court, a powerful institution whose nine judges are appointed for life.
The midterm elections renew a third of the seats in the Senate and all those in the House. Donald Trump has already threatened to use his power of veto in all directions against the texts that a Democratic Congress would send him for promulgation. It would also retain significant room for diplomatic and military maneuver.
