LONG KNIVES

MAGA Stars Take Aim at Trump Over Midterm Catastrophe

Suddenly, everyone knows the answer.

MAGA stars are already sticking the knife into President Donald Trump.

Figures from the right-wing movement are laying blame at the feet of the 80-year-old and his administration, even as results in close races are still yet to be called.

Vice President JD Vance kicked off the bloodbath in a shock X post, saying, “The reason we lost is the war.” His message was then endorsed by Trump’s oldest child, Don Jr.

ET TU?

Republicans Secretly Knife Trump as Election Disaster Looms

Harry Thompson

From there, the floodgates opened as more and more characters associated with the America First movement came out of the woodwork to offer their two cents on what went wrong. Invariably, all roads led back to Trump.

“Why did Republicans lose? Two reasons really. One’s affordability,” MAGA Rep. Tim Burchett said in an X post titled “What we did wrong.”

He won his race for Tennessee’s second district by over 16 points.

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“It’s the economy, stupid, as was said many times. Affordability, and that led right at the diesel fuel prices.”

Polls ahead of the election pointed to affordability as a key issue, with gas and groceries at the top of the list.

Soaring gas prices in particular have become heavily linked to Trump because of the war with Iran. The conflict has sparked a global energy crisis by disrupting fuel shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, dealing the final blow to an already unpopular war.

“We got to end those wars in Ukraine and Iran,” former Trump staffer Caroline Sunshine told Jesse Watters on Fox News. “We’re so close. President has already said we won. We can leave now. President’s got to get back to talking about immigration. Voters wanna hear from him on that. Keep up immigration enforcement. Don’t take a knee on it. There’s no need for it.”

Even MAGA’s favorite journalist Nick Shirley managed to point the finger, saying in a vlog, “So yeah, Republicans lost. They ran candidates that actually nobody really knew who they were, and they didn’t even focus on the main issues.

“A lot of people just wanted the Iran war over, affordability, and the Epstein files to be released, and issues like Israel to be a non-issue here inside the United States. And they lost.”

Elsewhere in her interview, Sunshine said: “I’m gonna say publicly what a lot of people are saying privately: Susie Wiles needs to resign.

“She needs to offer her resignation to the president before he has to ask for it. Her campaign skills have not translated into governing.

“Susie was behind the historic win in 2024, and she deserved credit for it and got the top job for it. But now she’s behind the historic loss where we lost Mississippi and have lost potentially the Senate for six years. And so that cuts both ways.

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“I think if she loves and respects the president and his legacy, she’ll do the right thing and step aside because on the current trajectory, we can’t win in 2028 if we keep going down this current lane. And a lot of this was staff failure.”

The party’s inability to dominate in traditionally red states was front of mind for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

“If we can’t win in places like Texas or Kansas or Iowa, you know, we are not viable nationally,” he told Laura Ingraham on Fox News.

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It was a mood that was already brewing before the votes were counted.

Before the election, as polls and the national conversation strongly pointed towards a looming blue wave, one unnamed GOP lawmaker told Politico: “There was a point earlier this year where we really felt like we could defy history. And then Trump bombed Iran. And it was just one thing after another.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

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Harry ThompsonNews Reporter

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