Trump news latest: DeSantis declared ‘new leader of GOP’ as awkward party photos emerge from Mar-a-Lago

The red wave that Mr Trump had hoped to take credit for did not appear before announcing his candidacy for 2024.

Republican commentator Eric Erickson said: Washington Post That “candidate quality matters” and many Republicans also expressed anger at Mr. Trump’s willingness to support radical candidates, some of which turned out to be unpalatable to the broader electorate.

They weren’t good candidates. They had loyalty to him more than anything else. The Republican Party may still win both [chambers] “But this is not the night they expected,” Ericsson added.

Political observers took to Twitter to share their views on Trump’s impact on the Republican Party’s midterm performance early Wednesday as upcoming results revealed a better-than-expected performance for Democrats.

“No matter how Trump or Maga tried to turn it around, it was an epic disaster for them. They were sure of a 3-4 seat majority in the Senate and a 25-30 majority in the House of Representatives while holding several governorships and state ministries. None of that happened. What a historic day,” attorney Ron Filipkowski chirp.

Sahil Kapur from NBC News shared a theory “Donald Trump has transformed sections of the college-educated regulars into Democrats and made the GOP coalition more dependent on low-stakes voters who don’t care about typical Republican candidates and vote erratically in out-of-year elections.”

Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki Wrote Democrats “have a Florida problem, but Republicans have a Trump problem and it seems harder to solve.”

Fox News White House reporter Jackie Heinrich chirp That a Republican source told her, “If it wasn’t clear before, it should be now. We have a Trump problem.”

While congressional control has yet to be decided, it has become clear that the “red wave” that some in the Republican Party had predicted did not materialize. The Republican Party appears poised to see some of the worst results in decades by a party that does not control the White House in the first midterm elections for a presidential term.

Hi, Donald Trump said Joe Scarborough. “Meet Boris Johnson,” he said, referring to the UK prime minister who was ousted this summer after a series of scandals and a tsunami of ministerial resignations.

“There was a coronation last night, the coronation of King Charles III will probably be in the spring, and Ron DeSantis was in Florida!” Mr. Scarborough said. “A massive victory there. Right?”

“Unfortunately, Donald Trump has lost the rest of America,” said the former Republican congressman from Florida.

“Now, I wouldn’t say this is the end of Donald Trump, but a lot of Republicans this morning are getting up, wait a second” Ron DeSantis wins Miami-Dade outright winning 20 percentage points in historic while Donald Trump tweets cheering Republicans.

“I don’t think last night was a good win for Donald,” Scarborough said, referring to DeSantis’ win.

Co-host Willie Geist said, “You see, Ron DeSantis won by about 20 points in Florida, reshaping the map. Reshaping Obama’s coalition. Winning, flipping 20 points two years ago, Latino voters. This morning looks like it’s Ron DeSantis’ party. Not Donald Trump’s party.”

It’s not Trump,” said Mr. Scarborough. Everything Trump touches politically is dying.

Mr. Trump spoke briefly to the press assembled in Mar-a-Lago where he boasted about the candidates he supported winning their contests.

Wouldn’t it be funny if we were better in a general election than [primary] nominations,” he said Washington Post.

The former president spent election night with the advisers and donors who had stood by him for so long. They all expected the Republicans to do better.

After leaving the spotlight Tuesday night, Trump took to the Truth Social to attack Dan Boldock, the New Hampshire Republican Party candidate who retracted his rejection of the election but lost to incumbent Democrat Maggie Hassan.

“Don Bolduc was a very nice guy, but he lost tonight when, after his big primaries win, he disavowed his longstanding position on election fraud in the 2020 presidential primaries. Had he stayed strong and real, he would have won easily. Lessons learned!!! ” Mr Trump wrote.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis won re-election by 20 points, 15 points higher than Trump’s victory in the 2020 presidential race in the Sunshine State.

At his victory ceremony, supporters chanted “two more years” as they pushed the governor to run for president in 2024 before the end of his term.

The night Trump was elected has calmed down because of a tropical storm heading towards Mar-a-Lago. And the private club, on Wednesday morning, was in a mandatory evacuation area, according to what he reported Washington Post.

The former president gave a brief speech Tuesday evening, thanking the press for coming, bragging about the candidates he supported winning their races, and congratulating some of the Republicans who won and some of the frontrunners during vote counting.

But he did not mention Mr. DeSantis.

Having firmly “believed” as last night’s results came out, Donald Trump wrapped up the evening by celebrating a “Great Night” – specifically, for the candidates he endorsed – and accused the media of spinning the result against him. Given what happened in the intervening six hours, it’s not clear if he’ll feel the same way when he wakes up.

Donald Trump’s famously optimistic son-in-law Lara, who is married to his son Eric, came out swinging for the ex-president despite the blow last night that would have inflicted his reputation as a sure-winner:

The upset and humiliated Republican Party is far from the only problem for Donald Trump after last night’s surprising results. As stated by Politico’s Kyle Cheney, there are now two full years in which he could swallow up his myriad legal woes:

Among the most intimidating figures for the former president is New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is suing him and his company for allegedly engaging in multi-million dollar tax fraud in their real estate business. She was easily reelected last night, as expected. Maroucheh Mufzar Reports:

One of Donald Trump’s success stories in this year’s primary was Ohio Senate candidate and now-elect Senator J.D. Vance, who rose to the top of the field after endorsing the former president—but how he won his race missed the most obvious opportunity to express his gratitude:

Unlike many right-wing candidates vying for weak seats, Vance at no point shied away from Trump-style rhetoric in the general election, instead doubling down on several relatively extreme positions.