US President Donald Trump sees the defeat of his Republicans in the congressional elections as “a huge step back in the history” of the United States. “America took a giant step back in history in the last election,” Trump said on his online service Truth Social on Sunday. “But have no fear, we will come back bigger and stronger than ever,” he continued, capitalizing the last part of the sentence.
On Saturday, Trump raised doubts about the outcome of the congressional election, which his Republicans lost by a large margin, and threatened the victorious Democrats about possible investigations into his allies. Through his online platform Truth Social, he ordered Attorney General Todd Blanche to investigate Democratic Party politicians who had announced investigations against him and members of his administration. Trump spoke of “blackmail”. At the same time, he distributed articles in which the Democrats' lead in the general election was questioned as being too high.
After the Democrats' landslide victory in the congressional election on Tuesday, Trump quickly announced that he would accept the result. There were fears in the Democratic camp that he might doubt the outcome and take action against it, as he did after losing the 2020 presidential election. Trump also said he could work with the Democrats, who will have a majority in both the House and Senate starting in January. Then on Friday he named right-wing hardliner Stephen Miller, known as the architect of Trump's mass deportation policies, as his chief of staff. This was seen as a declaration of war on the Democrats.
On Saturday, Trump also wrote on Truth Social that Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan should be declared the winner in the still open race for a Senate seat in Alaska. The election campaign was controversial because Dan J. Sullivan, who ran as an independent candidate, also appeared on the ballot. Even before Election Day, the Trump administration questioned the future outcome of the vote due to the risk of confusion. The attempt to intervene in the election in Alaska was rejected by a judge. Democrat Mary Peltola is currently narrowly leading there, ahead of incumbent Sullivan.
Trump also claimed that Democrats had threatened Republican donors with prison. “The imprisonment should be directed against these blackmailers,” he then demanded. In the past few days, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal had sent letters to, among others, the digital currency company World Liberty Financial, which is linked to the Trump family and a donor for the ballroom at the White House. In it, Blumenthal called for voluntary answers to inquiries in the parliamentary chamber's investigation procedures by January 4th. Otherwise, “alternative enforcement measures” will have to be considered. Blumenthal is expected to take over as chairman of the Senate investigation subcommittee in January.
Trump also caused conundrums over the weekend by announcing that he had offered martial arts entrepreneur Dana White the post of White House spokesman. White rejected the “unorthodox idea,” CNN reported a few hours later, citing an informed person. The celebrity portal “TMZ,” on the other hand, wrote, citing its sources, that White wanted to meet with Trump in the Oval Office in the White House on Monday to “discuss things.”
The initial question was whether there was a serious job offer to White or whether the contribution was part of the president's campaign against the Democrats. He also asked White to bring fighters from the UFC martial arts league he runs as “assistants,” Trump continued. You need these people to protect you from the “crazy leftists”. White posted a picture of himself at the podium in the White House briefing room as an Instagram story along with the text: “Off to a new chapter.”
The speaker's position in the White House has been vacant for weeks. Katie Zacharia, who was appointed in October, left the post after just a few days. She only gave a short press conference in which she appeared uncertain.
