Insider
Trump was worried he wouldn’t get enough credit for GOP midterm successes, report says. Since then he has the opposite problem.
Tom Porter – November 15, 2022
- Trump had anticipated his candidates would sweep to success in the midterms, Axios reported.
- He was planning on launching his 2024 presidential bid on the back of GOP triumphs.
- But in the wake of disappointing results, his political future could now be in jeopardy.
Former President Donald Trump was so assured that Republicans would sweep to success in the midterms that his main concern was that he wouldn’t get enough credit, Axios reported.
Instead, Trump is now fending off attacks after being blamed for the party’s dismal performance, with some questioning his political future.
A Trump advisor told the publication that the former president had sparked chaos on the eve of last Tuesday’s midterm elections when he told aides he was planning to announce his 2024 presidential bid at a rally in Ohio that night.
Though Trump was more skeptical of bullish Republican hopes of a sweeping Republican victory than some, the report said, his main concern ahead of the election was to maximise the credit he got for Republican successes.
Allies reportedly scrambled to stop him making the announcement on the eve of the elections, fearing it would increase Democratic turnout. In the end, Trump confined himself at the rally to teasing that he would be launching his 2024 bid shortly.
Republicans massively underperformed in last week’s midterms — failing to win back control of the Senate and likely winning only a small House majority, with many of the high-profile candidates Trump endorsed crashing to defeat.
Some Republicans have blamed Trump, saying that he championed divisive candidates espousing fringe beliefs who repelled many moderate voters.
Long-time allies have also urged the former president to hold off announcing his 2024 bid in the wake of the midterm results, but Trump is reportedly determined to go ahead with the announcement on Tuesday, believing that backing away would be humiliating for him.