President Donald Trump said he "couldn't transfer the love" his supporters hold for him to other Republican candidates in his first public appearance after Democrats captured the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate in Tuesday's midterm elections. "If I were on the ballot, we would have won.
You saw the people that were packed. Thousands and thousands of people at every rally. And if I was on the ballot, we would have won," he said while taking questions at a ceremony to raise the final steel beam for the ballroom Wednesday.
You couldn't transfer that love. There was such love at those rallies. And, we weren't able to transfer the love to candidates," he said.
Trump did not address the election loss during his initial remarks, choosing to focus solely on the ballroom's construction until he took questions from reporters. AMERICA SAW THE BLUE WAVE COMING — BUT DRASTICALLY UNDERESTIMATED THE EXTENT OF THE DEM TSUNAMI Trump did address the election after being asked if he agreed with Vice President JD Vance's assessment that the Iran war cost Republicans the election. "I think it's largely true because it drove the gasoline up a little bit short term and probably that's, probably it's true," he admitted.
"But at the same time, if I had it to do again, I'd have to do it again, because long term, it's the only answer. You can't let Iran have a nuclear war," Trump added. TRUMP CALLS IRAN CONFLICT A 'SOFT WAR,' INSISTS US HOLDS THE CARDS AHEAD OF MIDTERM ELECTIONS The president also said he felt the tradeoff was worth it.
I mean, I thought the oil would go up a lot more, and I did it on that basis. You can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon or everything that you see here someday might not exist," he said. Trump then addressed criticisms of his Monday speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool after being asked if he regretted the speech's timing.
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