President Trump Wednesday blamed big Republican losses in the off-year elections on the government shutdown and “kamikaze” Democrats.
Hours after voters in several states and New York City rebuked Trump’s GOP allies, the president conceded the results weren’t “good for Republicans,” lashed out at Democrats and suggested Republicans should take an even harder line with their political opponents.
“I think (Democrats are) kamikaze pilots. I think these guys are kamikaze,” Trump said. “They’ll take down the country if they have to.”
Trump vowed to discuss the results more candidly behind closed doors with Republican senators gathered for a breakfast meeting.
“I thought we’d have a discussion after the press leaves about what last night represented and what we should do about it and also about the shutdown and how that relates to last night,” he said. “If you read the pollsters, the shutdown was a big factor, negative for Republicans.”
As usual, Trump refused to accept any blame for the outsized defeats in Virginia, New Jersey, New York City and California, asserting that unnamed analysts said he wasn’t at fault for the losses.
“They say that I wasn’t on the ballot, (I) wasn’t the biggest factor,” Trump said. “I don’t know about that, but I was honored that they said that.”
Democrats say Trump and Republicans should shift course by negotiating a bipartisan solution to the shutdown and skyrocketing health costs.
“The extremists want to make your life more expensive, take away healthcare and keep the government shut down,” tweeted Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader. “Have they learned nothing from being wiped out last night?”
Even though many voters told pollsters they want to see bipartisan efforts to end the shutdown, Trump suggested he wants to double down on his push to scrap the Senate filibuster rule, which requires a 60-vote supermajority to pass most legislation.
Trump says ending the filibuster would allow the GOP to quickly reopen the government and likely push through other controversial legislation while Republicans control both houses of Congress and the White House.
“It’s time for Republicans to do what they have to do and that’s terminate the filibuster,” he said. “We should start tonight with ‘the country’s open, congratulations.’ Then we should pass voter ID, we should pass no mail-in voting.”
Many Republican lawmakers oppose ending the filibuster because they fear it would give Democrats a free hand to implement their own policies if and when they regain unified control of the government.
