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It’s been a while since conservative commentators and influencers have had to deal with this much loss, and they’re out of practice. They may have known that a potential blue wave was possible – even probable – but they didn’t seem to know how to handle this beating.
On Fox News, the mood was somber. Host Dana Perino suggested that perhaps Democrats would “defund the troops.” Jesse Watters said, “I don’t think we’re going to get our $5,000 checks,” referring to President Donald Trump’s most outlandish campaign promise. Sean Hannity blamed the war on Iran.
In the online MAGA swamp, conservative influencers and media figures have treated this remarkably poor performance in several ways, some of which contradict each other.
Some, especially at the start of the night, still tried to rejoice where they could. In particular, when Republicans won elections they were expected to win, like in the Florida gubernatorial race, some influencers bragged about fending off worst-case scenarios. But soon the mood turned to one of doom and disbelief.
“Tonight is a harsh reality check,” wrote a prominent right-wing X account, @ClownWorld. “It’s incredibly sad to see so many Americans buying into this radical agenda. We are in deep trouble.” Influencer Tim Pool felt the same way: “It’s not a blue tsunami. It’s a big flood of blue mud. Damn.”
Pretty quickly, these accounts turned to finding a villain. Few have directly blamed Donald Trump. Most were convinced it was the faction of their party they didn’t like.
In many cases, this faction consisted of foreign policy hawks, whom they blame for the war in Iran. “Great job, neoconservatives,” wrote personality Jack Posobiec. “Give a big salute. »
Mike Cernovich, who said it was “the dark night of the soul of our country,” also pointed the finger at Republicans who called young men “welfare cheats,” referring to a cycle of insular outrage on right-wing social media involving a Sarah Huckabee Sanders ad. The ad featured a young man playing video games as a lazy welfare recipient; influencers saw it as an insult to white men.
More politically astute observers understood that the losses were not limited to the culture wars. “Wow, turns out ‘actually, affordability isn’t a big deal’ wasn’t a winning message,” wrote Matt Walsh of the Daily Wire.
The president, for his part, seemed to sit through these awkward Fox News segments all evening, and it’s fair to say he didn’t like what he saw. In just a few hours, he posted three times on the network. “FoxNews ratings are down (27%!) because they spend too much time covering deranged Trump Democrats!” ” he wrote on Truth Social at 7 p.m.: “It’s them, not me: my numbers are better than they’ve ever been. »
This despite the appearance of Fox’s new commentator, Karoline Leavitt, his former press secretary, who defended the president on air, arguing that the public had forgotten all the good things he had done for them. But there seemed to be some frustration with the messenger.
At 10:40 p.m., once the nature of the night became clear, Trump decided he had to defend himself. “I wasn’t on the ballot and if I was we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!” he wrote about Truth Social. “Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. ASSET.”
Read more of Slate’s election coverage.
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