Trump congratulates Democrats on winning the midterm elections, denies the result is a rejection of his leadership
On the night of the November 3, 2026 U.S. midterm elections, after multiple media outlets projected that the Democrats would fully control Congress (the House of Representatives and the Senate), President Donald Trump called Fox News to offer congratulations, but clearly denied that the election result was a rejection of his leadership.
Trump said that congratulations go to the Democrats. They did a good job. They had been looking for this opportunity for 11 years and finally got it. But he did not think this was a blow to him. He said that they had gone through the two greatest years in presidential history.
He also said that he was not on the ballot, and that if he had been on the ballot, the Republican Party could have won; and he expressed regret for many Republicans who lost. Trump also mentioned that short-term price increases brought by the Iran war and other factors may have affected the result, but emphasized that he did not regard it as a personal failure.
Original source
Fox News (@FoxNews): “BREAKING: President Trump congratulates Democrats on their midterm victories but makes one thing clear: He does not view the results as a rejection of his leadership.”
https://x.com/FoxNews/status/2117853402096963771
(Published on November 4, 2026, includes excerpts from Trump’s phone-in video)
ABAB AI Insight
Trump’s statement continues his usual pattern: attributing midterm losses to the fact that he was not on the ballot, candidate problems, or external factors (such as the short-term impact of the Iran war), rather than to his own agenda or leadership. Historically, the president’s party usually loses ground in midterm elections (for example, Bush in 2006 and Trump’s first term in 2018), but few presidents have so directly congratulated the other side while also claiming the “greatest two years in presidential history.” His remarks echo his Truth Social post that night, in which he said that if he had been on the ballot he would have won by a landslide, showing that he is trying to detach the result from himself while still preserving room for future “cooperation” with Democrats or the use of veto power.