A METEORIC ROAST

Republican Trump Rival Taunts Nemesis After ‘Meteor Strike’

Ron DeSantis described the Democratic victories as a political “meteor strike.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took a swipe at President Donald Trump on Wednesday after Republicans suffered a humiliating defeat in the midterms.

Republicans suffered a sweeping midterm defeat, with Democrats reclaiming control of both the House and Senate, flipping both chambers for the first time since 2006.

DeSantis said the results went beyond an ordinary electoral wave, describing the Democratic victories as a political “meteor strike” while claiming Florida had resisted the fallout.

“Last night we witnessed, to call it a wave, I don’t think would be fully accurate. It’s the political equivalent of a meteor strike that went all around the United States, blue states, red states, everything in between. And the one state that was able to hold the line and withstand that is right here in the free state of Florida,” he said at a press conference.

Trump and DeSantis have had a rocky relationship since the Florida governor challenged the president for the Republican nomination in 2024. Trump repeatedly mocked DeSantis, calling him “Ron DeSanctimonious,” while DeSantis criticized Trump’s record and leadership. DeSantis eventually dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump.

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The two later attempted to mend fences, but political tensions remain.

DeSantis’ latest comments came as Republicans faced a difficult night across the country, despite Florida’s comparatively strong showing for the GOP.

Republican Sen. Ashley Moody won 51 percent of the vote in a special election for the Senate seat previously held by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, defeating Democrat Angie Nixon.

Republican Byron Donalds, backed by Trump, also won the governor’s race, becoming Florida’s first Black governor.

However, it wasn’t all good news for Republicans in Florida, which Trump carried comfortably in 2024, while DeSantis won re-election by nearly 20 percentage points in 2022.

Republicans had redrawn Florida’s congressional map after the 2024 election in an effort to secure as many as four additional seats. But Democrats won all four of the districts targeted by the GOP, despite Trump carrying those areas by roughly 9 to 11 points in 2024.

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Democratic Rep. Darren Soto narrowly secured re-election in Florida’s 9th Congressional District, edging his Republican challenger Dan Green by just 0.52 percentage points. Soto received 50.26 percent of the vote, compared with 49.74 percent for his opponent.

The razor-thin margin falls within Florida’s threshold for an automatic machine recount, which is triggered when the difference between candidates is half a percentage point or less.

Similar victories occurred for the Democrats in other historic GOP strongholds, including South Carolina, Texas, Kansas, Ohio, and Georgia.

Republican fortunes had been slipping since Trump launched the war on Iran in February. The conflict sent fuel prices soaring, despite the president’s assurances that the spike would be short-lived. Nine months into the war, Americans are still paying an average of $4.12 per gallon for gasoline and $6.27 for diesel, according to AAA.

Trump’s approval rating had also fallen into the low 30s, its lowest level on record.

Vice President JD Vance blamed the war for the humiliating loss.

“The reason we lost is the war,” he said in a post on X. “Everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.”

His comments were at odds with those of his boss, who, despite acknowledging that voters were unhappy with rising oil prices, dismissed suggestions that his decision to go to war with Iran had hurt Republicans, insisting in an interview with The New York Times that he had no regrets and would make the same decision again.

Trump blamed his absence from the ballot for the Republican losses.

“I wasn’t on the ticket, and because I wasn’t on the ticket, we couldn’t get enough people out to vote,” he told the Times.

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