Donald Trump spent Tuesday night doing what he does best: posting through it. As Republican candidates he endorsed fell one after another in the 2026 midterm elections, the president fired off a stream of messages on Truth Social that swung between blame, defiance, and a promise to become a “political pundit”. By the time the night ended, Democrats had taken control of both the House and the Senate, and Trump’s social media feed had become the main show.
The First Target: Fox News, Before Results Even Arrived
Trump did not wait for the votes to finish counting before finding someone to blame. Early in the evening, with polls barely closed, he turned on Fox News, the conservative network that has long been his loudest cheerleader.
“No wonder FoxNews Ratings are collapsing, and they’re going to go down a lot further. They’re way down, not because of me, but because they are AGAINST me! This happened once before, and Fox almost collapsed. It’s happening again!”
The president was reportedly upset about the network’s voter poll, which showed 87 percent of respondents concerned about gas prices and 62 percent blaming his policies for them. His approval rating in that same poll sat at 38 percent.
Fox News host Jessica Tarlov also drew his anger. Trump wrote that he could not stand her voice and called her “DUMB AS A ROCK” before texting co-host Greg Gutfeld live on air to complain. Tarlov responded on X: “I realize my comments highlighting the highest gas prices on any Election Day aggravated the president, but reality is a tricky thing and he should get better at dealing with it”.
“I Wasn’t on the Ballot”: The Landslide Claim
At 10:37 p.m. ET, Trump posted the line that would define his entire night.
“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. President DONALD J. TRUMP”
The claim landed with particular weight because Trump had spent weeks telling voters to “pretend” he was on the ballot, framing the midterms as a personal referendum. When the results turned against him, the same argument became his shield.
Greg Abbott Becomes the First Casualty
The president’s next post, at 11:35 p.m., went after Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who lost his reelection bid to Democrat Gina Hinojosa. Hinojosa, a 52-year-old state representative, became the first Democrat to win the Texas governor’s office since Ann Richards in 1990.
“If Greg Abbott, the Governor of Texas, hadn’t become a RINO in the last six months of his Political Life, he wouldn’t have lost. He went back to his original formula, and it wasn’t pretty! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
“RINO” stands for “Republican In Name Only,” a label Trump uses for party members he considers disloyal. The Texas loss was one of several stunning flips: Democrats also took Senate seats in South Carolina, Kansas, and Ohio, and won races in North Carolina and Georgia.
The “Political Pundit” Promise
In another post, Trump announced a new career path.
“I’m going to become a Political Pundit, both good and bad, on the reasons these Candidates won and lost!”
The message read more like a threat than a career change. It also fit a pattern: across the night, Trump repeatedly distanced himself from Republican candidates while claiming credit for the ones who won. He told CBS News, “In some cases they [voters] didn’t like the candidates, and in some cases those candidates were not my friend”.
The VETO Hat Photo
Minutes after telling The New York Times that he was “absolutely willing to accept” the election results, Trump posted a photo of a red baseball cap — the kind usually bearing his MAGA slogan — with the word “VETO” across the front.
The message was clear without a caption. With Democrats set to control both chambers of Congress, Trump’s legislative agenda is effectively dead on arrival. His remaining tool is the veto pen, and he has made clear he plans to use it. He had previewed the strategy earlier in an interview with CBS News, saying, “I have the ultimate power — it’s called ‘veto’”.
The Conciliatory Phone Calls
The social media feed told one story. The phone calls told another.
Speaking to The New York Times, Trump said he would “look forward to working with” Democrats and that “we’ll probably work something out”. In an interview with Fox News, he conceded that Democrats “did a good job” and “fought hard”. He also acknowledged that the Iran conflict and its impact on gas prices played a role in the Republican losses.
“The Democrats did a good job. They fought hard.”
The gap between the interviews and the posts was stark, and political reporters noted it in real time. Mother Jones described the feed as “the portrait of a man coming to terms with his diminished standing in the world,” while also noting that Trump privately lashed out at “lazy” Republicans and RINOs.
Social Media Turns the Night Into a Meme Fest
The internet did not let the moment pass quietly. Hashtags #BlueTsunami and #BlueWave trended through the night as users posted memes, AI-generated videos, and jokes at the president’s expense. One widely shared X post read, “Trump got regime change in Texas before Iran”.
The White House tried to counter the narrative with a “Still Your President” post, which was met with ridicule and descriptions of Trump as a lame-duck president. Even Elon Musk, who poured more than $445 million into Republican campaigns, posted after the results: “Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn’t work this time”.
The Scale of the Loss
Democrats secured 224 seats in the House and flipped at least seven Republican-held Senate seats, clearing the four-seat threshold needed for a majority. The party also picked up governorships in traditionally red states. The results reversed Republican control of a Congress that had held a 53-47 Senate advantage and a 219-215 House majority.
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For Trump, the numbers carried a specific weight: he became the first president in 20 years to lose both chambers of Congress in a midterm election. The man who spent the campaign telling crowds to imagine his name on the ballot will now spend his final two years in office negotiating with a Congress controlled by the opposition — or reaching for the veto pen he photographed and posted for the world to see.
Also Read: Trump Says ‘I Wasn’t on the Ballot’ as Republicans Lose Both Chambers in a Rout Worse Than 2018
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