President Donald Trump gestures during a breakfast with Republican Senators at the White House on Wednesday. Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

As it was becoming clear that Election Day 2025 was a very bad one for Donald Trump’s Republican Party , the president weighed in with his own electoral analysis. He posted a quote Tuesday night that he attributed to unspecified “pollsters” – apparently ones he was watching on Fox News.

“TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT,” the quote read .

Trump echoed those comments when speaking to GOP senators Wednesday morning, again pointing to the shutdown and adding, “They say that I wasn’t on the ballot was the biggest factor.”

That shutdown’s impact on the elections is debatable. It didn’

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