Topline
President Donald Trump on Tuesday night responded to the Democratic Party’s dominant performance—where they swept all of the night’s big races—in the first big election since his return to the White House by suggesting that the Republican Party’s poor performance was a result of his name not appearing on the ballot and the prolonged government shutdown.
President Donald Trump doubled down on his demand that the Republicans must ditch the Senate filibuster.
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Key Facts
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote: “‘TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT,’ according to Pollsters.”
Trump didn’t specify which “pollsters” he was citing in the post, but many of the candidates who lost key races on Tuesday night had been endorsed by the president, including the GOP’s New Jersey gubernatorial candidate, Jack Ciattarelli, and New York Mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo.
The president also doubled down on his demand that Republicans in the Senate should “TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER! GET BACK TO PASSING LEGISLATION AND VOTER REFORM.”
Last week, Trump had said GOP could end the shutdown by using the “nuclear option” and getting rid of the filibuster
In a follow-up post, Trump clarified what he meant by voter report, writing: “Pass Voter Reform, Voter ID, No Mail-In Ballots. Save our Supreme Court from ‘Packing,’ No Two State addition, etc.”
The president made another cryptic post a short while later, saying: “…AND SO IT BEGINS!”
What Has Trump Said About The Filibuster?
In a lengthy post made on Tuesday morning, Trump reiterated his complaints about the filibuster, and said: “The Democrats are far more likely to win the Midterms, and the next Presidential Election, if we don’t do the Termination of the Filibuster (The Nuclear Option!), because it will be impossible for Republicans to get Common Sense Policies done with these Crazed Democrat Lunatics being able to block everything by withholding their votes.” The post then echoed many of the claims he made last week, saying the Democrats wanted to end the filibuster when they were in power, as they knew it would give them “tremendous strength.” Trump noted they were blocked from doing so by former Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va, and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and added “Well, now WE are in power, and if we did what we should be doing,” Trump suggested that by getting rid of the filibuster, the Republicans could end the government shutdown.
Tangent
In his victory speech on Tuesday night, New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani directly called out the president, saying: “Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: turn the volume up.” He then added: “New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and as of tonight led by an immigrant…So hear me, President Trump, when I say this: to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.” After the result of the California redistricting ballot measure was called, Governor Gavin Newsom said, “We’re proud of the work the people of California did today to send a powerful message to a historic president. Donald Trump is a historic president; he is the most historically unpopular president in modern history.”
Further Reading
California Voters Approve New Congressional Map Favoring Democrats (Forbes)
NYC Mayoral Race (Live Updates): Mamdani Wins, Calls It A “Mandate For Change” (Forbes)
