Wednesday’s lackluster results for Republicans are throwing the party into a tailspin, wondering what happened to the months-long prediction of a “red wave,” with many pointing to former President Donald Trump as the reason such a wave didn’t materialize.
But not everyone believes Trump is to blame. Pro-Trump wings of the party are pointing the finger at the GOP’s establishment for shunning Trump’s losing candidates.
Still, others are flabbergasted at what happened at the polls, pointing to “something” being “off.”
What is true is that within the GOP, there was no shortage of blame to dish out.
According to a statement a GOP aide made to Fox News Digital, “something was off.” The aide pointed to targets being missed and querying whether it was polling or “issues that we thought people cared about?”
Yet the aide didn’t dwell too much on the GOP’s less-than-stellar performance, choosing instead to wonder what Republicans do if they win the House majority, asking, “What is our mandate and what do we do?”
Others weren’t nearly as conscientious, blaming Trump and his pool of candidates for Republicans’ dismal showing in the midterms.
Speaking to Fox News Digital, Brendan Steinhauser, a Republican consultant, pointed to a growing sentiment within the GOP that “election deniers did not do well.”
Others named and shamed Trump as the cause of the GOP’s showing at the ballot box.
One unnamed Republican House lawmaker said it is “clear” now that the GOP has a “Trump problem.”
Another anonymous Republican source jabbed at Trump, saying, “Turns out candidate quality matters.”
But Trump and his team wouldn’t take any of the blame, something Trump alluded to being the case when he told NewsNation, ” I think if they win, I should get all the credit, and if they lose, I should not be blamed at all.”
Instead, a spokesperson for Trump pointed to 215 of Trump’s endorsed candidates winning and blamed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY.), claiming he “abandoned winnable races in New Hampshire and Arizona.”
