After the less-than-stellar performance of Republicans in the midterms after some pundits and pollsters predicted a "red wave," 16 Republican strategists, grassroots activists, Donald Trump confidants, and elected officials vented to Rolling Stone about the results.
Trump was hoping to surf a Republican "red wave" to a fresh White House bid, but with only limited gains in Tuesday's midterm elections -- and an outstanding result for his chief intraparty rival -- the former US president seems to be left out to sea.
Though Republicans look likely to wrest control from the Democratic Party in at least one chamber of Congress, projections show they will not gain the large number of seats typical when the sitting president's approval ratings are so low, and inflation so high.
According to Rolling Stone, the general sentiment among the group is that the GOP "had historically botched the midterms, had good reason to panic, and should feel humiliated."
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"The shock and, at times, devastation reflect the missed expectations of the GOP elite, conservative movement leaders, and Trump’s own inner orbit. After months of crowing about the coming midterm 'bloodbath,' Republicans watched as several candidates — including some MAGA favorites — were dispatched by their Democratic opponents," Rolling Stone's Asawin Suebseang and Nikki McCain Ramirez write.
The failed expectations for some GOP candidates' performances were made worse due to inflated favorable polling results, but Trump may have seen the results coming.
"Over the summer, he confided in some of those close to him that he was starting to think Oz was going to 'f***ing lose,' as Rolling Stone reported at the time. In more recent months, Trump (whose own inability to accept his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden led to the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol assault) huddled with various attorneys and right-wing organizations that were laying groundwork for challenging the legitimacy of 2022 elections — especially if there ended up being a tight race in Pennsylvania. At this point, it is unclear to what extent these plans, for Oz or any other candidate, will be executed," Rolling Stone's report states.
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Speaking to Rolling Stone, former leader of the pro-Trump Great America PAC said the midterm results were a "disaster."
“The Democrats came back and beat us on the ground. We spent hundreds of millions of dollars on ads that didn’t work. We had inflation, we had the after-effects of Covid, we had an unpopular president — and we sat around fighting each other and name-calling … I’ve been in and around politics for 50 years, and this is one that was truly unpredictable and certainly should not have happened the way it did [for us].”
In the House, early results suggested Republicans were on track for a majority -- but only by a handful of seats -- while control of the Senate remains on a knife-edge and may hinge on a runoff election in the southern state of Georgia in early December.
Trump, who has teased the potential launch of a presidential campaign on November 15, remained in the spotlight throughout the campaign -- putting his thumb on key Republican primaries and holding rallies nationwide, during which he repeated his baseless claims of fraud in the 2020 race.
But with several of his hand-picked candidates underperforming -- some even losing Republican-held seats to Democrats -- analysts and some in his party are blaming him for the party's underwhelming election night.
With additional reporting by AFP
