Trump says he was 'a little bit surprised' after Democrats' big midterm win, stresses veto power

President Donald Trump on Tuesday at points lashed out, made excuses and appeared resigned after Republicans suffered resounding losses in the midterm elections. In an interview on Fox News he said he was 'a little bit surprised' by the results.

Trump said: 'I thought we would do better. We had tremendous rallies, thousands of people outside let alone inside that couldn't get in.'

After Democrats were projected to take control of the House, Trump posted on his social media platform: 'I wasn't on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!' During a flurry of campaign stops across states and districts he won handily in 2024, Trump had implored Republicans to vote as if he were on the ballot.

In a phone interview with Politico, Trump put some of the blame on Republican candidates and high gas prices from the war in Iran. He said: 'But they didn't agree, and they didn't like the candidates in most cases, just one of those things. There were plenty of people elected too, but, you know, not enough.'

Asked if he thought there were candidates who did not do enough, Trump said: 'I don't want to blame anybody. I just want to say, you know, it was a very interesting period of time. I watched with great interest, learned from it.'

Trump played an outsized role in several key races. In the Texas Senate race, he endorsed Ken Paxton over incumbent John Cornyn in the GOP primary, and in the special election in South Carolina he endorsed Darline Graham for a full term to fill her late brother Lindsey Graham's seat. Both Paxton and Graham were projected to lose their races on Tuesday.

After results rolled in showing that Democrats would take the House and then later the Senate, Trump used his social media platform to lash out at the incumbent Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, who had lost his bid for a fourth term. 'If Greg Abbott, the Governor of Texas, hadn't become a RINO in the last six months of his Political Life, he wouldn't have lost,' Trump said in one post, using the term for Republican in Name Only. 'He went back to his original formula, and it wasn't pretty,' Trump added. Democratic challenger Gina Hinojosa was projected to defeat Abbott.

In his initial set of remarks, Trump said he would work with Democrats. In the Politico interview, he said he was willing to work with Democrats to 'make sure things go well for our country'. Asked if he would consider striking an immigration deal with Democrats, he said: 'I'd consider doing whatever I think is appropriate and good for the country.'

However, Trump also emphasized his ability to veto legislation. On Tuesday night he posted on his social media platform a picture of his signature red hat with the word 'VETO' displayed across it. Ahead of the results, Trump had projected confidence that Republicans would defy the polls but said that he would be 'Mr. Veto' if Democrats were to regain control.

Speaking to Fox News, Trump said Democrats are 'in control, but they're really not in control because they can send over, you know, 50 different great bills that they're all excited about, and I send them back with a nice stamp veto.'