Phelan M. Ebenhack for The Washington Post via Getty Images
- Donald Trump blamed poor handling of abortion issues for the GOP’s lackluster 2022 midterms.
- Trump said that anti-abortion campaigners disappeared after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
- The former president also claimed to be “233-20” about candidates he backed in 2022.
In one of his first social-media posts of 2023, former President Donald Trump deflected criticism for Republican Party losses in the 2022 midterm elections pinning the blame on its handling of abortion rights.
“It wasn’t my fault that the Republicans didn’t live up to expectations in the MidTerms,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “It was the “abortion issue,” poorly handled by many Republicans, especially those that firmly insisted on No Exceptions, even in the case of Rape, Incest, or Life of the Mother, that lost large numbers of Voters.”
Trump also criticized those on the right who campaigned for decades to have abortions banned, claiming they failed to show up during the elections after the Supreme Court handed them a historic victory last year.
“The people that pushed so hard, for decades, against abortion, got their wish from the US Supreme Court, & just plain disappeared, not to be seen again,” he said.
In June 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, gutting a nearly 50-year-old landmark ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.
The ruling galvanized pro-choice supporters and was seen as an important factor in the Democratic Party’s stronger-than-expected showing in November’s midterm when they added a seat in the Senate, strengthening its control of the upper house, and only narrowly lost the House of Representatives.
Trump also hit out against Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnel, claiming to be “233-20” in relation to the candidates he backed in 2022.
This followed criticism that Trump-backed candidates were instrumental in losing the GOP its shot at retaking the Senate during the 2022 midterms. Those losses included high-profile Trump-backed Senate candidates Herschel Walker in Georgia and celebrity TV doctor Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania.
Trump has repeatedly pushed back against accusations he was to blame.
The former president announced in November that he was running again in 2024.
