Former President Donald Trump claims it wasn’t his doing but rather the “abortion issue” was the reason many Republicans underperformed in the midterm elections.
QUICK FACTS:
- President Donald Trump claimed it wasn’t his “fault” that his highly endorsed candidates didn’t perform as expected in the midterms but rather because the “abortion issue” wasn’t handled well.
- “It wasn’t my fault that the Republicans didn’t live up to expectations in the MidTerms,” Trump said on his Truth Social app. “I was 233-20! It was the “abortion issue” poorly handled by many Republicans.”
- The former president received heavy criticism after many of his candidates in key battleground states lost their midterm election races.
- Trump claimed that “especially those that firmly insisted on No Exceptions, even in the case of Rape, Incest, or Life of the Mother” had lost voters in large numbers.
- “Also, the people that push so hard, for decades, against abortion, got their wish from the U.S. Supreme Court, & just plain disappeared, not to be seen again. Plus, Mitch stupid $’s!” Trump continued.
TRUMP’S INVOLVEMENT IN THE 2022 MIDTERM ELECTIONS TO HELP “MAGA CANDIDATES” IN THEIR RACES:
- In September 2022, top advisers in Trump’s orbit launched a political action committee geared toward spending the former president’s massive war chest on his preferred midterm election hopefuls, American Faith reported at the time.
- MAGA Inc. aimed to help Trump-endorsed Republicans in the homestretch of their races, an infusion of cash battleground Republican candidates sorely needed as they ran fundraising deficits relative to their Democratic rivals.
- The Trump political action committee was created to tap the roughly $100 million that the 45th President’s Save America PAC has raised since he left office. Unlike Save America, MAGA Inc. can spend without restraint on campaigns both in the 2022 midterm elections and Trump’s oft-teased 2024 presidential bid.
BACKGROUND:
- Last month, Trump argued against mainstream narratives that the Republican midterm races were a failure, defending his high endorsement success rate of “232 out of 252.”
- “232 out of 252 Midterm Races WON who had my Endorsement, and the Fake News is working overtime to try and create the most negative narrative possible,” he wrote on Truth Social at the time.
- “No, the REAL reasons were other than Trump, and I can name them ALL!” he continued.
- The 2022 midterms were also met with reports of fraud and voter disenfranchisement, with evidence surfacing in states like Arizona, Georgia, and Michigan that suggested polling places and ballot counting may not have been as aboveboard as some had hoped.
- A national poll released in December indicated that a large majority of Republican voters still supported Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, despite the underwhelming Republican victories in November.
- 45% of Republican and Republican-leaning Independent voters questioned in the poll said they’d support Trump for the GOP nomination in a multi-candidate field, while 33% favored Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, 8% backed former Vice President Mike Pence and 11% supported other potential candidates.
- A Wall Street Journal poll also released last month showed DeSantis polling ahead of Trump in a potential head-to-head matchup for the 2024 GOP nomination. That national survey also showed that Republican primary voters could hold a slightly more favorable opinion of DeSantis than Trump.
