Former President Trump weighed in on what he believes is the reason the Republican Party underperformed in the 2022 midterm elections.
Writing on his social media site, Truth Social, the 45th president said he is not to blame, contrary to what some GOP analysts have argued. Rather, Trump said abortion played a significant role and was mishandled by the GOP.
“It wasn’t my fault that the Republicans didn’t live up to expectations in the MidTerms,” he wrote. “I was 233-20! It was the ‘abortion issue,’ poorly handled by many Republicans, especially those that firmly insisted on No Exceptions, even in the case of Rape, Incest, or Life of the Mother, that lost large numbers of Voters. Also, the people that pushed so hard, for decades, against abortion, got their wish from the U.S. Supreme Court, & just plain disappeared, not to be seen again.”
Republicans only narrowly took the House of Representatives, despite widespread predictions of a Red Wave given historical trends and voters’ discontent with inflation, crime, and President Biden, among other issues.
Some exit polls showed abortion as the second most-important issue for voters after inflation, however. GOP post-mortems have argued Republicans failed to adequately address Democrats' messaging on the issue.
Trump’s message here is also exactly the same bullshit that the Republican Establishment has been spewing for decades
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) January 1, 2023
Trump also placed blame on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for a super PAC he's aligned with that pulled money from some key races.
"Plus, Mitch stupid $'s!" Trump said in his statement.