Donald Trump assured his followers on Wednesday morning that the GOP had enjoyed a “GREAT EVENING” in the midterms despite the “Fake News Media” and Democrats trying to “play it down.” But as a predicted red wave failed to materialize and many of the candidates endorsed by Trump lost their races, others are blaming the former president for the Republicans’ underwhelming performance. Alyssa Farah Griffin, Trump’s former White House communications director, called out her ex-boss for the party’s failure to deliver “an Obama-style shellacking” in Tuesday’s midterms, specifically lamenting Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan’s narrow victory against Trump-backed Don Bolduc in New Hampshire. “If you want the Republican Party to thrive, we’ve got to just finally speak out and say, ‘This man is a loser,’” Griffin said on CNN. “He lost 2020, he’s about to–you know, he’s losing a seat that is winnable this time, in time towards looking what the future might look like.” Trump’s former deputy White House press secretary, Sarah Matthews, also blamed him for the result. “I think last night was the biggest indicator that Donald Trump should not be the Republican nominee in 2024,” Matthews told CNN Wednesday. “He cost Republicans winnable seats by boosting poor quality candidates.”
