MAGA influencers react with alarm to Republican midterm losses

Left · 2Pro-Trump influencers and commentators responded with alarm as results came in on the night of Tuesday's midterm elections, which went heavily against Republicans. 1 2 Left · 2The Independent wrote that Democrats were poised to take control of the House and the Senate, while Raw Story wrote that Democrats had retaken the House and flipped Senate seats in Texas, Kansas, South Carolina, North Carolina, Iowa, Ohio and Maine, seizing control of the upper chamber. 1 2 Left · 1The Independent named Democratic Senate winners including James Talarico in Texas, Roy Cooper in North Carolina, Annie Andrews in South Carolina, Josh Turek in Iowa, Adam Hamilton in Kansas and Sherrod Brown in Ohio. 1

Left · 1On X, Matt Van Swol asked how Democrats were winning seats "we didn’t even know were in play", and Tim Pool called the result "a blue great mud flood". Joey Mannarino predicted "two years of pure hell". 1 Left · 1Several figures blamed Senate Republicans. Bo Loudon accused "RINO" senators of stabbing Trump in the back by not passing the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote, and Sean Davis, CEO and co-founder of The Federalist, said Senate GOP leadership should all resign. 1 Left · 1The Independent noted that non-citizens are already barred from registering to vote and that it is extremely rare for them to vote in federal elections. It also said there were no credible candidates in the midterms who identified as communists, after Jack Posobiec of Human Events posted that "We will not surrender the United States of America to Marxism". 1

Left · 1Trump wrote on Truth Social, "I wasn’t on the ballot, and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!" The Independent described this as shifting blame away from himself. 1 Left · 1Raw Story, citing a Daily Beast report, focused on the Supreme Court: once the new Senate is seated in January, Democrats would be able to block any Trump nominee, which has renewed attention on whether Justices Samuel Alito, 76, and Clarence Thomas, 78, will retire. 2 Left · 1The Wall Street Journal's Damian Paletta wrote that Alito would be under pressure to resign, perhaps this week, so a replacement could be seated in the lame-duck period. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that if Democrats win the races where prediction markets give them strong odds they would hold 55 seats, and put the chance of confirming a worthy successor during Trump's term at "Zero". 2

Left · 1Influencers Michael Flynn Jr. and Joey Mannarino lamented the prospect of a liberal Supreme Court, with Mannarino saying Republicans should have replaced Alito and Thomas while they had the chance. 2 Left · 1Conservative lawyer Ed Whelan said he would be "extremely surprised" if either justice announced a retirement now. He noted the GOP margin would shrink to 52-48 once Sherrod Brown is sworn in in early December, said Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski were unlikely to back a Trump pick, and warned the GOP might not retake the Senate until 2033. Alito told CBS News last month that retirement is something someone his age "has to think about every term". 2