President Trump weighed in on the Virginia gubernatorial election’s result, claiming Republican candidate Ed Gillespie lost to Democrat Ralph Northam because he didn’t embrace Trumpism. “Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for,” Trump tweeted Tuesday night before going on about the special elections this year for Congress. “Don’t forget, Republicans won 4 out of 4 House seats, and with the economy doing record numbers, we will continue to win, even bigger than before!”
Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for. Don’t forget, Republicans won 4 out of 4 House seats, and with the economy doing record numbers, we will continue to win, even bigger than before!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 8, 2017
Despite his harsh critique of Gillespie after the election was called, Trump had repeatedly vouched for Gillespie via tweets and robocall in the days leading up to the contest.
“Ralph Northam will allow crime to be rampant in Virginia. He’s weak on crime, weak on our GREAT VETS. Anti-Second Amendment … and has been horrible on Virginia economy. Vote @EdWGillespie today!” Trump tweeted Tuesday morning. “@EdWGillespie will totally turn around the high crime and poor economic performance of VA. MS-13 and crime will be gone. Vote today, ASAP!”
Trump is currently in South Korea as part of his 13-day trip across Asia and will shortly be headed to China, where he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
