Trump Accepts Midterm Election Results, Reitters Threat to Veto Democratic Bills

▲ U.S. President Donald Trump

U.S. President Donald Trump stated on November 3 (local time) that he accepts the midterm election results, which saw the ruling Republican Party lose its majorities in both the House and the Senate, and pledged to work with the Democrats.

However, he reaffirmed his stance that he will exercise his veto power against bills led by the Democratic Party.

He also showed an attitude acknowledging that the war with Iran was one of the causes of the midterm election defeat.

Speaking in a telephone interview with Fox News immediately after U.S. media outlets reported in succession that the Democrats would take control of both the House and the Senate, President Trump said, "I will accept the election results."

Asked whether he would cooperate with the Democrats going forward, he replied, "We will," adding, "The Democrats want to work with me, too."

He also noted that the Democrats ran a hard campaign and said, "Congratulations."

Earlier in the day, in an interview with The New York Times (NYT), President Trump said, "I am fully willing to accept the (midterm) results," adding, "We will work with the Democrats and look forward to cooperating. We will probably reach some kind of agreement."

President Trump also acknowledged that the midterm defeat was partly due to the war with Iran.

He claimed to Fox News, "Part of it was Iran, but at the same time, people understood the importance of what I did with Iran."

In a telephone interview with The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) as well, President Trump pointed to the war with Iran as one of the reasons for the election defeat, emphasizing that he does not regret his decision to go to war, stating, "I did the right thing. I would do the exact same thing (if faced with the same situation again)."

During the Fox News interview, President Trump also mentioned that Americans seemed unwilling to tolerate even short-term increases in gasoline prices.

He reaffirmed his hardline stance targeting the Democratic Party.

President Trump said, "(The Democrats) are going to send me crazy things and I'm going to use the veto," adding, "After using the veto for a couple of months, they're going to call up and say, 'How can we work things out?' and we're going to work together."

This is an extension of his remark ahead of the midterm elections that he would become "Mr. Veto" if the Democrats won.

Despite the election defeat, President Trump stated that there would be no cabinet reshuffle.

This effectively made it clear that while pledging cooperation with the Democrats, he would not shy away from confrontation.

Through social media platform Truth Social, he emphasized, "I wasn't on the ballot. If I had been, we would have won by a landslide."

This is interpreted as an intention to shift the responsibility for the midterm election defeat onto the Republican Party and its candidates.

A White House official also told reporters, "President Trump was not on the ballot. It has been proven that when he is there, Trump voters turn out," and added, "Also, candidate quality matters. President Trump promoted the candidates more effectively than the candidates themselves."

In other words, the claim is that President Trump did his best with support rallies and that Republican candidates lost due to a lack of qualifications.

As public sentiment worsened due to inflation stemming from the war with Iran and midterm election prospects turned unfavorable for the Republicans, President Trump has repeatedly distanced himself from the party and shifted the blame onto them.

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