The blame game for the Republicans’ tepid showing in the midterm elections is in full swing, and many lawmakers are landing on former President Donald Trump as the prime target.
Coupled with Trump’s tantrum over Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R-FL) wipeout reelection and a bizarre swing at Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA), Republicans have started shying away from supporting Trump in another presidential bid. Republicans are projected to take a narrow majority in the House, while the Senate majority is yet to be determined by the outcomes of key races in Nevada, Georgia, and Arizona.
YOUNGKIN SWATS TRUMP: ‘THAT’S NOT THE WAY I ROLL’
“Even before this election, I heard from 99% of donors, supporters, and activists that they ‘loved Trump,’ but it was time for him to move on,” a GOP lawmaker told the Washington Examiner.
“He picked bad candidates and Biden has bad favorabilities, all the issues aligned with — we were at 2% [RealClearPolitics] average, which should have been a 5 or 6,” another senior lawmaker said, referring to the polling advantage Republicans had. “And I am convinced that he’s the major reason why — swing voters don’t like him.”
Another senior lawmaker added, “I think the party is going to come to the reckoning that Trump is not going to lead us to the promised land. These far-right Freedom Caucus guys are largely utilitarian, and if they sense that Trump’s not gonna help them going forward, they will drop him like a hot potato.”
Former White House communications official and The View co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin told the Washington Examiner, “Trump was the biggest loser of the night. His chosen candidates lost winnable races for Republicans. He cost the GOP the Senate majority once already — in Georgia in 2020, and [election] night, he was the single biggest factor in the GOP’s massive underperformance. This should be a wake-up call to Republicans to move on from Trump.”
Trump endorsee Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) said the former president might need to change his message when asked about other Trump endorsees losing their races.
“I don’t like that either,” Walberg said. “That that turned out that way, and it was somewhat unexpected. So I hope that President Trump, as he moves forward, really does a postmortem and thinks what this means to his message.”
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) told local radio Trump didn’t show that he could unify the country.
“Donald Trump’s statements about Ron DeSantis, I think, demonstrated a significant flaw, frankly, in his ability to unify the party and unify the country,” Cramer said. “And so, as much as I’d love four years of Donald Trump, followed by eight years of Ron DeSantis, it’s those first four years that I would worry about us being able to achieve. We need to put our absolute best foot forward.”
Not all Republicans are jumping off the Trump train. Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) endorsed Trump for a 2024 run, though he hasn’t yet announced his bid.
“Republican voters determine who is the leader of the Republican Party and it’s very clear President Trump is the leader of the Republican party. What the media fails to report is that we just won the midterms and flipped the House,” Stefanik said in a statement.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Trump’s Senate and gubernatorial candidates underperformed on Tuesday night, with both Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz and gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano losing in Pennsylvania, Herschel Walker’s (R) Georgia election heading to a runoff, Don Bolduc falling far behind in his New Hampshire Senate bid, and Blake Masters (R) trailing Sen. Mark Kelly (D) in Arizona as of Friday.
Trump is expected to announce his 2024 presidential bid early next week.
