President Donald Trump has blamed allies and Fox News after Republicans suffered heavy defeats in the midterm elections. Voters rejected Republican candidates across the country, with Democrats winning in places they have not done so in decades, such as Kansas.
Mr Trump took to his Truth Social account to share his thoughts, criticising Fox News and the outgoing Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott. He suggested Mr Abbott had become a "RINO" — a Republican in name only.
Trump's criticism of Fox News
The President accused right-wing news channel Fox News of "spending too much time covering the Trump Deranged Dumocrats". He posted: "I'm going to become a Political Pundit, both good and bad, on the reasons these Candidates won and lost!"
On Fox News, Mr Trump added: "All of those people who used to watch Fox, and no longer do, get it. It's them, not me — My numbers are better than they have ever been."
He cited a CNN Poll stating that "TRUMP" is at 99% among Republicans and, among Republican Presidents, "TRUMP" is at 53%, compared to Ronald Reagan at 18% and Abraham Lincoln at 8%. He wrote: "Fox knows this, and so does everyone else!"
The President also typed: "No wonder FoxNews Ratings are collapsing, and they're going to go down a lot further. They're way down, not because of me, but because they are AGAINST me! This happened once before, and Fox almost collapsed."
Attack on Greg Abbott and Bill de Blasio
Regarding Mr Abbott, whose state turned blue overnight, the President posted: "If Greg Abbott, the Governor of Texas, hadn't become a RINO in the last six months of his Political Life, he wouldn't have lost. He went back to his original formula, and it wasn't pretty!"
Mr Trump also criticised the channel for having on former Democratic Mayor of New York Bill de Blasio, who he called "the Worst Mayor in the History of New York City". He claimed Mr de Blasio was "ranting and raving like a Lunatic" and "left the City in disgrace".
The President added that "the damage he caused was incalculable" and the city "has never been the same", and "now he's telling us how to run America". He typed: "Fox News bears responsibility for these losses by constantly and consistently putting on the Democrat opposition, and worse. GOD BLESS AMERICA!"
Texas Senate race results
James Talarico won the Texas Senate race with 53.99% of the vote (5,110,249 votes). Republican candidate Ken Paxton lost out, despite billionaire Elon Musk spending more than $440million on his campaign.
Mr Trump insisted that if it were a Presidential election, he would have emerged victorious. He wrote: "I wasn't on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!"
