Trump Claims Midterms Were Rigged After Congratulating Democrats

On Truth Social, Trump questioned whether the election was honest and said early-voting “dumps” had been so large that winning was impossible, regardless of turnout. “It’s all about the machines, which are far more important than the voter!” he wrote. Polls had widely forecast Democrats would reclaim one or both chambers of Congress and were largely accurate. Although some local voting-machine issues were reported, there is no evidence of widespread problems.

Trump’s post marked a shift from his Election Night response. In a phone call to Fox News, he congratulated Democrats, saying they had “done a good job” and fought hard. But as unfounded fraud claims spread on social media, he turned to allegations of machine-related wrongdoing.

The political action group Blue Georgia said the claim was “just a matter of time.” Journalist Mike Rothschild called it a turn toward “the machines are rigged” denial, but described it as a pale shadow of Trump’s 2020 election denialism, saying he sounded “beaten and disinterested.” Former Chicago Tribune metro editor Mark Jacobs said he had expected Trump to declare the election rigged after losing.

Other responses included “Lather, rinse, repeat,” from “The View” co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin, and “Losing isn’t proof of fraud. It’s proof you lost,” from former Obama and Biden administration appointee Andrew Weinstein. Tangle News founder Isaac Saul called Trump’s denial “pretty flaccid,” adding that there appeared to be impatience on the right with blaming the losses on fraud rather than policy. Commentator Megyn Kelly’s response was brief: “Just stop.”