How did the US and British right react to the Republicans’ shellacking in the US midterm elections on Tuesday night? By the looks of things, they’re still only on the second stage of five of the grief model – denial and anger.
The night began with Donald Trump taking to his own Truth Social to predict a big victory ahead on the basis of early results in, er, Guam, the Western Pacific territory with a similar population of Springfield, Missouri; a place most Americans could not find on a map.
“Guam, which has always been considered strongly Democrat, just had an early call for a REPUBLICAN Victory in the top spot, Governor – Congratulations to Tony Ada!,” he wrote. “Also, the Republicans have the Majority in the State Senate. Wow, hopefully that’s an indication for things to come!”. Spoiler alert! It was not.
Elsewhere, one of Trump’s biggest British fans and a sometime visitor to his great gilded elevator, Leave.EU funder Arron Banks, was chortling at predictions that Democrats were ahead in eight key Senate races. Reposting on X a chart showing Dems moving ahead in seats such as North Carolina, Maine, Michigan and Texas, he responded: “If you believe this you will believe in Fairies.” Spare a thought for the Sad Boys of Brexit!
Another British Trump fan, the sometime Conservative, UKIP and now Reform former MEP David Bannerman, now billing himself as a “strategic consultant”, was similarly suspicious of some of the early predictions, contrasting mainstream media reports with the far more reliable ones you can find on random X accounts.
“There seems to be a big gap arising between how the @BBCWorld is reporting the US elections – which hasn’t changed all day and heavily tips the Democrats; and various social media which is reporting many surprise wins for the Republicans,” he mused. Incredibly, the BBC turned out to be more dependable than the Russian bot accounts he’d been looking at.
As the night wore on, and it became clear the GOP was getting an absolute battering, Laura Loomer, the sometime Trump-whispering far right activist, went completely berserk, posting on X throughout the night that the results meant the end of the USA.
“I hate to say it, but America is over,” she informed her almost two million followers. “The communists and jihadists are going to open our borders and replace our votes with votes from illegals [sic] aliens. We now have reps who openly speak about their hatred of America, their love of communism and their support for sharia law.
“We won’t be able to undo the damage they cause on our country come 2028. America 250 was a funeral. The American Dream is dead.” Nurse! The smelling salts! (When Fox News host Lisa Boother attempted to cheer her up with “The good news is that God is in charge”, Loomer responded “If God is in charge, why did he [sic] leave [sic] our country get taken over by Muslims and communists?”).
Meanwhile, other Republican supporters were trying to find light in the darkness. Harry Cole, US-based presenter of the Sun’s little-watched Harry Cole Saves The West YouTube show, was cheering the result of Steve Hilton, David Cameron’s former shoe-eschewing advisor, who was running for the governorship of California.
Suggested Reading
It’s Posh George © as Farage’s benefactor seeks to trademark his name
“What a run for @SteveHiltonx,” he posted on X. “A remarkable campaign through that crazy primary and more than respectful [sic] showing tonight What next!”.
What next indeed, given Hilton’s dismal 36% of the vote was the GOP’s most paltry result in California since 1978. His own Sun YouTube show, perhaps?
The Sun itself knew exactly who the biggest loser of the vote was – er, Andy Burnham. In an unbylined comment piece posted on its website on Wednesday morning, it declared that “Andy Burnham will now be bracing for the ripple effects hitting British shores after the massive blue wave dealt a major blow to Trump’s presidency”. It added that the result was “a disaster for Burnham who has largely staked his premiership on giving British families ‘breathing space’.” Why? Alas, space constraints meant it could not explain.
And Andrew Neil, well-remunerated host of Times Radio’s overnight coverage of the elections, though it was important to repost to his 1.2 million followers an X a comment from OutofTweet123 (bio: “I like Trading, Economic, Animals and cycling”), saying: “Most important take of the night……can the mainstream Dems stop the far left wackjobs from destroying America!”.
Finally, perhaps the last word on the night goes to Trump himself, who posted back on his Truth Social: “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!”. Forgetting, perhaps, that he told people to vote as if he was on the ballot…
Most popular
If Burnham held a snap election, he’d win – but there’s a catch
Yes, there must be another EU referendum. So let’s win it
What happens to Trump if he loses the midterms?
The frontline of our war with Putin is the phone in your pocket
