Donald Trump issues first statement since projected loss in midterm elections

Donald Trump has responded to the Republican Party's loss of the House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm elections by doing exactly what he did after every previous election that did not go his way: he said it was not his fault because he was not on the ballot.

"I wasn't on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!" he wrote on Truth Social. "Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP."

The sign-off is the detail that has sent the post viral. A sitting president, responding to his party losing control of Congress on a night where his approval rating hit the lowest of any midterm president in nearly 20 years, closing with 'thank you for your attention to this matter' like a man sending a strongly worded email to his energy provider.

The problem with the 'I wasn't on the ballot' defence

He told them to pretend he was.

On the eve of the election, Trump went on Hannity and delivered a message that could not have been more direct.

"I'm just asking everybody to pretend that I'm on the ballot," he said. "And in a way, I am."

He repeated variations of the same message at 28 rallies across the country in October. He posted 44 messages in 13 minutes on Truth Social endorsing Republican candidates. He held six telephone rallies in a single night. He told supporters that if they turned out, 'we win in a landslide'. He urged them to 'SWAMP the Radical Left Dumocrats with massive turnout'.

Then, when the massive turnout arrived and voted against his party, he said he was not on the ballot.

He has done this before

After Republicans lost the House in the 2018 midterms during his first term, Trump said: 'My name wasn't on the ballot.'

After Democrats won big in the 2025 off-year elections in New York, California, and New Jersey, Trump posted on Truth Social quoting 'pollsters' who said 'TRUMP WASN'T ON THE BALLOT' was one of two reasons Republicans lost.

The pattern is now three for three. When Republicans win, it is because of Trump. When Republicans lose, Trump was not on the ballot. The logic only works in one direction and it has been deployed identically every time.

Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty

What he lost tonight

The House of Representatives, which DDHQ projected for Democrats earlier this evening. Hakeem Jeffries is expected to become Speaker in January, the first Black American to hold the role. Democrats will gain subpoena power over every committee, the ability to launch investigations into the Trump administration, and control over the federal budget.

The Senate remains too close to call but is tilting Democratic, with Roy Cooper flipping North Carolina, Chris Pappas taking New Hampshire, and Jon Ossoff holding Georgia. If Democrats take both chambers, it would be only the fourth time since World War II that a president's party has lost control of the entire Congress in a single midterm.

Trump's approval rating in the exit polls was 38%, with 62% of voters disapproving. Nearly half of voters said they viewed the election as a direct rebuke of the president. A third of people who voted for him in 2024 said he had fallen short of their expectations.

The $5,000 that died with the result

Three weeks ago, Trump promised every adult American $5,000 if Republicans held both chambers. They have lost the House and are on track to lose the Senate. The payment, which was never funded, never legislated, and never real, is now formally impossible.

It joins the $2,000 tariff dividend he promised in November 2025 and the $500 Obamacare refund that was supposed to arrive in October. Three payment promises, three amounts, zero dollars sent.

Trump did not mention any of them in his Truth Social post. He mentioned the ballot. He mentioned the landslide that would have happened if he had been on it. And he signed off like a man filing a formal complaint.

'Thank you for your attention to this matter.'