President Trump has downplayed the Republican party's performance in the recent midterm elections, attributing losses to high fuel costs and the consequences of his Iran policy. In a post-election phone call with Fox News, Trump congratulated Democrats on their victories, stating they "did a good job" and had been "looking for this one for 11 years."
While acknowledging that "part of it was Iran," Trump conceded that voters may have been unwilling to accept the "short-term consequence of paying more for gasoline" as a result of his administration's policies. He expressed understanding for this sentiment, though he disagreed with it.
When asked about a potential postmortem of the election results, the president indicated that the outcomes "had nothing to do with my cabinet" and suggested no major staffing shakeups were planned. He confirmed he would work with Democrats across the aisle during the lame-duck session and beyond.