WASHINGTON: Donald Trump is “still your president,” the White House said Wednesday, a day after his Republican Party suffered sweeping losses in midterm elections seen as a referendum on his second term.
The White House delivered the message in a post on X featuring a picture of a glaring Trump looming over the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.
“PSA: TRUMP IS STILL YOUR PRESIDENT,” text superimposed on the image said, using the abbreviation for public service announcement.
“Thank you for your attention to this matter,” the post added, using a phrase Trump frequently employs in his social media messages.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. https://t.co/Q1ZGYM7idV
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) November 4, 2026
Opposition Democrats won control of both the House and the Senate on Tuesday, dealing a major blow to Trump and the Republican Party.
The Democratic capture of Congress signals an end to Trump’s stranglehold on US politics and gives Democrats the power to pass legislation, launch investigations into Trump’s administration and thwart his appointments.
The results reflected frustration over the cost of living, tariffs and Trump’s war with Iran, which has sent prices soaring and compounded dissatisfaction with an already deeply unpopular president.
Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday that the Iran war doomed Republicans in the midterm elections.
“The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night,” Vance said in a lengthy post on X — apparently referring to President Donald Trump saying the Iran war was “part of it” but that it was still justified.
“Everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there,” added Vance.
One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was “composition”—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was merely OK, in other states it was downright amazing, and in no state was it catastrophic. There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team: our people were showing up.
So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we’re going to shock the world? “No,” he told me. “We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us.”
Well, that looks prophetic now. Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026.
There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true.
But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone.
Another pollster—one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were:
1) End the war
2) Focus on cost of living/inflation
3) Put America First
4) Change our relationship to IsraelOur voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results. While many spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos Duffy for calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it turns out her political advice was sound. (She’s also a great person.)
In the next few months, there’s going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear any number of establishment politicians say the solution to our woes is amnesty. I’m open to the idea that we should change enforcement—by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you.
The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.
If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest.
But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.
I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.
— JD Vance (@JDVance) November 4, 2026
Earlier, Trump sought to distance himself from the Republican Party’s midterm losses, blaming defeated candidates and campaign shortcomings.
In a phone interview with Fox News broadcast early Wednesday, Trump acknowledged that Democrats had run effective campaigns but argued that Republican candidates had failed to secure enough support.
“The Democrats did a good job. They fought hard,” he said.
Asked whether the results represented a setback for him, Trump replied: “I don’t view it as a hit on me. We’ve had the greatest two years in the history of the presidency.”
Several candidates backed by Trump lost races in states he had carried comfortably in the 2024 presidential election.
Rather than acknowledge voter dissatisfaction with his administration, Trump pointed to the candidates themselves and their failure to mobilise supporters.
In an interview with The New York Times, he argued that his absence from the ballot had contributed to the Republican losses.
“I wasn’t on the ticket, and because I wasn’t on the ticket, we couldn’t get enough people out to vote,” he said.
Trump also claimed on Truth Social that Republicans would have won in a “landslide” if he had been a candidate.
