Trump has lost some battleground states despite early predictions of a win and particularly glaring is the defeat of Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania to stroke victim John Fetterman of the Democratic Party…writes T.N. Ashok
With the predicted Republican Red Wave not really happening and the Senate and House still up for a toss, former President Donald Trump, who led the charge from the front, is reportedly “livid” and has chosen to blame his candidates absolving himself for the defeat of his candidates in key contests.
Trump has lost some battleground states despite early predictions of a win and particularly glaring is the defeat of Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania to stroke victim John Fetterman of the Democratic Party.
Trump is apparently upset over Oz’s loss and was reportedly ‘livid’ and ‘screaming’ his head off following the disappointing performance of GOP candidates in key contests and no clear direction of who would take the Senate or the House, as many key constituencies are undecided, the Business Insider reported.
Trump is said to be rather unsettled over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis retaining his seat and instead of congratulating him for retaining his governorship and the seat of Marco Rubio, Trump chose to launch a fusillade against Santi’s daring him to oppose him in the 2024 run for the White House and face dire consequences.
Trump and DeSantis have been exchanging hot words recently during campaigns as the former is visibly upset with some billionaires shying away from him and Republican National Committee saying they won’t pick up his legal bills and possibly not fund his rerun, media analysts said.
Another major upset for Trump was when the Democrats flipped the Massachusetts seat in their favour with Maura Healey winning decisively against another Trump candidate Representative Geoff Diehl. Healey, the state’s Attorney General since 2014, overwhelmed her Republican opponent, former state Representative Diehl, and pulled back the governorship to the Democrats after Republican Governor Charlie Baker turned down a third term. She is the state’s first woman Governor for the state who is an openly declared lesbian, media reports say.
Trump’s favourite newspaper the “New York Post” featured Ron DeSantis on the front page with his wife and kid with the headline DE Future, an apparent reference to Santi’s being the favourite of the Republicans who could swing the party to the White House on his own popularity in 2024. That hasn’t gone down well with Trump either.
Though the midterms have been closely fought, predicted wins and upsets have marked the results so far, there is an atmosphere of uncertainty as counting is still on in other several key constituencies and contests in battleground states.
Another major upset is California Governor Gavin Newsom has managed to retain his seat for the Democrats in a body blow to the Republicans.
Trump, who is carrying a huge legal baggage from alleged tax frauds, to twice being impeached, to stashing top secret documents and inciting violence, had amazingly tried to rebrand the Republican Party from his Mar-a-Lago home. More than 250 general election endorsements were made by him, as per ballotpedia. Most of them endorsed his allegedly false rhetoric of the 2020 elections being stolen to be characterized as “election deniers”.
Top Trump-backed candidate Mehmet Oz lost in Pennsylvania but author JD Vance just about beat Democrat Tim Ryan in Ohio, a battleground state. Trump reportedly reduced the chances of Republican nominees in key races such as Colorado’s Joe O’Dea, the rare one to win the Senate contest without the former President’s blessing.
Trump’s ire also reportedly chased away sitting Governors from challenging Democratic Senators — Mark Kelly of Arizone and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire.
Despite embarrassing GOP losses, Trump is still mulling his announcement for a presidential rerun for a third time in 2024 reportedly to be made on November 15. He has criticised possible challengers who could oppose him such as the re-elected Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
DeSantis, to Trump’s ire, has won by a historic margin on a night when Trump’s endorsed candidates flopped. An ex-GOP strategist said that Trump had zero chances of winning the 2024 presidential election, should he run — as early results of the 2022 midterm elections were not in his favour.
“How could you look at these results tonight and conclude Trump has any chance of winning a national election in 2024?” Scott Jennings, a former aide was quoted by the media as saying.