Trump congratulates Democrats on midterm success, blames GOP candidates for poor performance

"I was a little bit surprised," Trump reflected to Fox News about the election results. "I thought that I could transfer those people into candidates."

US President Donald Trump said that Democrats did a "good job" while blaming GOP candidates for their losses after a blue wave swept through the country in the 2026 midterm elections on Tuesday night, flipping seats in multiple long-established Republican strongholds such as Texas.

"I was a little bit surprised," Trump reflected to Fox News about the election results. "I thought that I could transfer those people into candidates."

He also congratulated the Democrats, saying that they had been waiting for a majority in the Senate for 11 years, and that they had "worked very hard."

"They've been fighting me for a long time," he said. "I don't like to consider this a defeat; I wasn't on the ballot."

In a post on Truth Social, Trump claimed that if he had been on the ballot, he would have won "in a landslide."

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Trump admitted that one reason the GOP had lost was the ongoing war with Iran, saying that "Iran was a piece of it."

However, Trump also insisted that he did not regret the war, and that he "did the right thing. I would have done it again."

The Republican candidates, Trump claimed, "could have been better," with some of them being "not acceptable to the voters."

Trump also pledged to veto Democrat policies after they won the Senate, telling Fox News that "They'll send over things that are insane and I'll veto them."

However, he also said that he would try to work with the Democrats, saying "I think we’ll work with the Democrats, and we’ll get along very well with them. If we don’t, we’ll be very tough on them, they’ll be very tough on us."

Trump: Netanyahu 'barely pushed back' on end to US aid to Israel

During his interview with Fox, Trump also discussed his recent statement that the United States would end $4 billion in aid to Israel by the end of 2026.

"Well, basically, we provide Israel with four billion dollars a year - including weapons and other things," he said. "That’s more than we give any other country, and people use that against us. And they [the Israelis] don’t need it. They’ve become quite wealthy.

"I’ve discussed this with Bibi Netanyahu. I’ve been talking to him about this for the past four months. I told him, 'You know, Bibi, you can afford to stand on your own two feet now; you don’t need this aid.'"

According to Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "barely even pushed back," and "even suggested it himself."

However, Trump said, Israel would still be able to purchase weapons from the United States.