Trump and Republican Candidates Trade Blame Over Their Worst Defeat [U.S. Midterm Elections]

[Financial News] U.S. President Donald Trump and Republican candidates are trading blame over their worst midterm election results.
Bobby Charles, the Republican candidate who lost Maine’s gubernatorial race on the 4th (local time), told Politico, “It may sound a little paradoxical, but I’m optimistic about the future because Trump will be leaving office in two years.”
Brinker Harding, the Republican candidate who lost the Nebraska House race, told The New York Times (NYT) that he would not comment on President Trump’s remark that Republicans lost because he himself was not on the ballot. He did, however, point to high gas prices and tariffs as factors in the party’s defeat.
Don Bacon, the incumbent congressman for the district where Harding ran who did not seek reelection this time, dismissed Trump’s blaming of the candidates as “nonsense,” arguing, “This is all about President Trump.”
Jason Roe, a Republican strategist in Michigan, also called President Trump’s diagnosis of the election results “absurd” and sharply criticized his midterm campaign rallies, calling them “a greatest-hits roadshow of every move that could annoy and anger the American people.”
This backlash is likely to grow stronger and become more public as President Trump’s departure from office draws nearer. A senior Republican Senate official told Politico that “the situation has gone beyond the candidates’ qualifications,” adding, “Trump made it this way.” Another Republican campaign operative criticized Trump for blaming the candidates’ qualifications, calling it “a facile excuse.”
[email protected] Hong Chae-wan Reporter