The key facts

  • As a result of the November 3 elections, the Democrats won control of the House of Representatives and the Senate
  • In an editorial, the WSJ named Trump the main culprit of the Republicans’ defeat
  • Trump cited rising fuel prices as the reason for the loss and refused to consider it his own

Election results and the press reaction

Congressional elections were held in the United States on November 3, and as a result the Democrats won control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Gazeta.Ru Gazeta.Rureports. A Wall Street Journal editorial titled “Trump’s Reckoning Is Here” places responsibility for the Republican Party’s defeat on the president: “As expected, President Trump is already blaming everyone else, but he is the main culprit of this defeat.”

What the WSJ writes

The newspaper notes that although defeats in midterm elections during a president’s second term are a common occurrence, “this was more than an ordinary defeat.” According to the outlet, the loss of Senate seats and governorships in states traditionally considered Republican strongholds will have consequences for years to come, as will the “cascade of defeats in state legislative elections.”

Trump’s position

Donald Trump himself said that the election results surprised him, but he refused to consider the Republican Party’s defeat his own, citing rising fuel pricesas the cause of the loss. Thus, the WSJ editorial board’s assessment directly contradicts the explanation given by the president himself: the newspaper sees the cause in Trump’s actions, while he points to an external factor.