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President Donald Trump has attempted to distance himself from the Republican Party’s disastrous performance in last week’s midterms elections, insisting his approval rating remains high and throwing the GOP candidates he endorsed under the bus.
The president was interviewed by Stephen A. Smith for his Straight Shooter with Stephen A podcast Thursday about his side losing control of the House of Representatives and Senate and suffering crushing defeats in typically Republican states such as Michigan, Kansas, Texas and Mississippi.
Sitting together in the White House’s Roosevelt Room, Smith got straight to the point: “What happened, Mr. President?”
Trump gave a meandering answer, pointing out that he had not been on the ballot himself, complaining about the two Dan Sullivans running in the Alaska Senate race (which has still not been called) and finally spoke on the Iran war.
“Maybe the war was not unpopular as a war but unpopular because of the fact that the gasoline prices were higher, oil prices, and I actually thought that was something that people would be able to handle pretty well,” he said.
The president insisted the electorate needed to understand that paying more for gas in the short-term was worth it to ensure Tehran never…
