'If I Was On Ballot...': Trump As Republicans Lose US Midterms

As Democrats took control of the US Congress, US President Donald Trump said his Republican Party would have gotten a "landslide" victory if he had been on the ballot. The Republican leader also said he would accept the results of US midterm elections but was quick to shift the blame for the historic rout to his fellow GOP (grand old party) colleagues.

"I wasn't on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE! Thank you for your attention to this matter," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.

Time and again on the campaign trail, the 80-year-old told Republicans to "pretend I'm on the ballot." Now, many Republicans believe that may have been exactly the problem, as voters put Democrats in control of the House and Senate. The elections were a nationwide verdict on Trump's turbulent second term, with growing discontent among voters over living costs, tariffs and the US war against Iran -- which has driven fuel prices sharply higher.

Dismissing speculation about whether he would repeat his refusal to accept his 2020 presidential election loss to Joe Biden, Trump took a conciliatory note.

"I am absolutely willing to accept those results," he told The New York Times. "We'll work with the Democrats, and we'll, you know, look forward to working with them. We'll probably work something out."

But Trump later gave a hint of what he really intended to do to Democratic attempts at legislating, posting a picture of his trademark red MAGA baseball hat with the single word "VETO".

Trump later said that he was going to "become a political pundit" and give the reasons why Republicans lost. First in his crosshairs was Greg Abbott, the loyal Texas governor unseated by Democrat Gina Hinojosa. Trump said that if Abbott hadn't become a "RINO" (Republican In Name Only) "he wouldn't have lost."

The question now is how Trump will react to being a lame duck president for the last two years of his second term, with Democrats in control of both the House and Senate. The White House has, meanwhile, indicated that Trump is unlikely to go quietly.

The Mood in the White House

There was a bunker mentality in the White House as Trump and his top cabinet members watched the bruising results come in at a reception in the lavish East Room.

"The White House mood is defiant," a White House official told news agency AFP.

Some White House staffers dined on take-out from a US chain restaurant, 'The Cheesecake Factory', in a dig at Democratic former president Barack Obama, who had said Trump's White House renovations were "looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory."

A White House official also questioned the quality of Republican candidates for the House and Senate.

Many of them Trump had endorsed and travelled across the country to rally support for -- even lavishing praise, in one case, on the "ass" of Republican Ohio Senate candidate Jon Husted.

"Candidate quality matters, and President Trump did a better job promoting many of the candidates on the ballot than the candidates did themselves," the White House official said.

The official also indicated that Trump may double down on the Iran war that it is now clear voters loathed. "Anyone who voted Democrat today is going to have a serious case of buyer's remorse when gas prices come down quickly when the Iran conflict is solved but they're still stuck with a list of liberal extremist Democrats," the White House official said.

The White House also gave a dark hint of retribution against his political enemies. "A final note here: regardless of how today plays out, President Trump's resolve to stop the Radical Left is only going to become stronger. Buckle up."

Trump had appeared agitated before the first results even came in, posting a string of angry messages on social media lashing out at conservative broadcaster Fox News's coverage.

In one post sent as the first polls closed, Trump said Fox's ratings were "way down, not because of me, but because they are AGAINST me!"