Trump gets heavy blame for red fizzle after pre-election behavior: ‘Trump cost us the midterms’

President Donald Trump’s pre- and post-2022 election behavior has some critics crying foul, blaming him for the lack of a substantive “red wave” on election night.

This behavior includes him making it seem like he was about to announce his presidential run during a rally Monday night for Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance.

To Trump’s credit, he did ultimately decide to delay the announcement by a week.

“I’m going to be making a very big announcement on Tuesday, November 15. We want nothing to detract from the importance of tomorrow. You understand that,” he said.

But critics said that this act in itself counted as an unnecessary distraction.

“When someone says they don’t want to detract, get ready for some detracting. Trump is all about Trump and after months of being on the sidelines – good months for Republicans – Trump had to make it all about him. Again,” longtime GOP strategist Douglas Heye bemoaned to the Daily Mail.

Also, during a separate rally over the weekend, the former president unnecessarily insulted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by referring to him as “Ron DeSanctimonious.”

Critics said the former president’s words were purposefully meant to hurt DeSantis and make him look like a “less attractive” presidential candidate. Critics called this attack “childish,” “pathetic,” “moronic,” and selfish.

“I have NO problem with Trump sparring with @GovRonDeSantis after they both announce their candidacy for 2024. But Trump trashing DeSantis days before the Midterms is politically moronic, and 100% on brand for the man who sees every issue through one lens: TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP,” one critic wrote on Twitter.

The problem, critics added, was that the president made the midterms about his own personal beefs instead of about helping the Republican Party win.

The president’s post-election behavior has been much of the same, with Trump at one point celebrating a Republican losing his election because said Republican had been backed by DeSantis:

This especially ticked off critics, who argued that someone this self-absorbed, who cares more about his personal petty beefs than the party as a whole, should not be leading the party, period.

Look (*Language warning):

It doesn’t help either that many of the candidates Trump backed wound up going down in defeat on election night, including it would seem Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake (though her race wasn’t quite closed as of Wednesday morning), Pennsylvania Senate candidate Mehmet Oz, and Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano.

Conversely, Trump’s apparent arch-nemesis, Florida Gov. DeSantis, performed extraordinarily well, defeating his opponent by double digits.

With the election now over, critics say all this behavior — being a distraction, rooting against Republicans, and even celebrating Republicans losing — is more than enough reason for Republicans to ditch Trump going into 2024.

Otherwise, critics warn, Republicans will go down in defeat once more — this time during a crucial presidential race.

Indeed, to hear many Republicans tell it, the very reason Republicans performed so poorly during this year’s election was precisely because of Trump.

Vivek Saxena

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