‘Reagan Would Never Do This’: Republicans Point Fingers After Massive Blue Wave

Some Republicans are pointing fingers at President Donald Trump after his 32-day midterm blitz failed to save GOP majorities in Congress.

“This was a complete repudiation of Trumpism,” one GOP strategist told the Daily Signal. “When you lose literally everything, there is no one else to blame. Trumpism expired, and conservatives need to start rebuilding the coalition.” 

Democrats retook control of both the House and the Senate on Tuesday. As of 2:17 p.m. EST Wednesday, Senate Democrats won 54 seats and the Republicans held 44, with races in Alaska and Mississippi still to be decided. In the House, Democrats won 249 seats to the Republicans’ 152. 

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said the GOP’s crushing loss of a Senate seat in South Carolina was “directly the result of his [Trump’s] actions.” It is the first time since 1998 the state is sending a Democrat to the Senate. 

After the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham in July, Norman ran in the special election to succeed him in the next full term. However, Trump endorsed Graham’s sister, Sen. Darline Graham Nordone, who had been appointed to serve the remainder of the current term. Graham Nordone bested Norman in the August primary for the special election but lost the general election to Democrat Dr. Annie Andrews.

“Ronald Reagan would never ever have done what he did,” Norman told the Daily Signal of Trump. “And he’s paying a price for it. And the country’s gonna pay.” He noted “the big money that went in to defeat me, the million dollars he put up to distort my record.”

“His pride of wanting to just dominate did not work, and it did not work in other states either,” he said. “It did not surprise me here in South Carolina, but it did shock me when you have a poor candidate like [James] Talarico, when you have Marxists.” 

In a Fox Business interview early Wednesday morning, Trump did not assume blame for Tuesday night’s massive blue wave. 

“They didn’t like the candidates, and some of the candidates that I endorsed fought me, and they didn’t like it,” he said in an interview. “This MAGA base is incredible, the most loyal base, the most loyal people, the people that built America.”

Some Republican operatives and members blamed forces other than Trump for the party’s losses.

One GOP operative said that Trump hurt in some races but helped in others, noting that it’s hard to fully blame the president for the loss of a candidate not closely associated with him, such as Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. 

The dramatic blue wave came from a combination of people casting a protest vote against Trump and the party, lack of Republican turnout, and candidates who thought that GOP money would deliver them wins without having to do hard work, the operative noted. 

A GOP congressman who asked to remain anonymous said the president was unable to overcome “headwinds.”

“I think the president worked tirelessly to try to get folks over the finish line. I feel like that there were obviously some headwinds that we were up against, and we know historically there were headwinds,” he told the Daily Signal. The congressman named concerns about the prices of gas and groceries. 

Another GOP strategist said the Iran War was a huge factor in the losses in deep red states such as Texas. 

“You look at a place like Texas, and you have $6 diesel in Texas. You take it for granted, and then look how they responded,” he said. “People just kind of had enough.” 

“We got into a gerrymandering fight that we didn’t need to get into,” he continued. “We lost a number of seats in Florida and Texas that we didn’t need to lose as a result. And then you don’t spend money until September, and spend most of the time talking about your arch versus what people are facing every day with the affordability conversation.” 

In Texas, Republicans shot themselves “in both feet and both eyeballs” by nominating controversial Attorney General Ken Paxton for the Senate race, the operative said; Paxton lost to Democrat James Talarico. 

“Texas already repudiated him [Paxton] by impeaching him,” he said. “They already stated what they wanted.” The operative said there is a disconnect between Washington, D.C. and what local voters want. 

Steve Mitchell, a Michigan pollster with a background in Republican politics, blamed Trump for GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers’ loss to Muslim Democrat Abdul El-Sayed. 

“What happened in Michigan is a direct result of President Trump and the priorities he’s had during the second administration,” he said. 

A senior GOP staffer, however, said those blaming Trump need to “go buy a mirror.” 

“Republicans had both chambers, delivered on one reconciliation package, and burned an entire year making excuses about why they couldn’t force or eliminate the filibuster on SAVE America,” the staffer said. “Until people here start caring more about results than their three-day work week, they shouldn’t be surprised.”

Texas GOP strategist Brendan Steinhauser said he hopes the president can work with Democrats so they both get some wins for the rest of his presidency.

“He doesn’t want to just be a lame duck,” he said. “He wants a legacy.”

In addition to the cost of living and Iran War, Steinhauser thinks grassroots’ opposition to the administration’s artificial intelligence policy played a role in the losses.

“It was just a bad look to have Jensen Huang and Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk and Greg Brockman and all these guys hanging out at the White House, wining and dining with Xi Jinping and President Trump in their tuxes,” he said. “It just didn’t go over well, and that is a big lesson learned. The populist right did not like that approach, does not trust those folks, and I think the president should distance himself from those folks.”

More from this network:
Domains for Sale · GOTPeople.org · TheDSAPlatform · The Truth About Socialism

Donate to GOTPeople.org