As the results of Tuesday’s midterm elections began to roll in, Donald Trump’s mood seemed to darken, especially when it came to coverage from his network of choice, Fox News. His demeanor was a sharp contrast to how the president has appeared the last few weeks: In the face of war in Iran and a growing affordability crisis at home, the president has attended jam-packed rallies intended to boost support for Republican candidates, often with a smile on his face, even if his presence was reportedly not always desired.
In Georgia, he stumped for gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson and US Senate nominee Mike Collins, who lost his race against incumbent Democratic senator Jon Ossoff. In Texas, Trump turned out for Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose campaign canceled its final appearances in the last days of the race against Democrat James Talarico.
Trump has long seemed happiest when speaking to a crowd of supporters, but his demeanor seems to grow bleaker in the evening hours, typically the time he takes to his social media platform, Truth Social, where he shares less positive sentiments.
That was the pattern early Tuesday. As polls closed in Indiana and Kentucky at 6 p.m. ET, Trump termed the end to the latter state’s election day “A BIG DEAL!” The president was likely aware of the closure as he was “Watching the Pre-Election Results on FoxNews,” he wrote, before complaining that he can’t stand the voice of one of the network’s few liberal leaning commentators, Jessica Tarlov.
“DUMB AS A ROCK,” Trump complained, his mood apparently turning. “Have to go somewhere else until that LOSER is off the air — I’ll be back later!” After less than an hour, he returned, his anger at Fox increasing. “The FoxNews Poll, always the worst, is so insulting with the questions they ask,” he wrote. “Every question is a hit job, and every answer is ‘BULLSHIT!’ This has been going on for years.”
A few minutes later, he returned again, this time with a longer rant about the cable channel. “FoxNews Ratings are way down (27%!) because they’re spending too much time covering the Trump Deranged Dumocrats! All of those people who used to watch Fox, and no longer do, get it. It’s them, not me — My numbers are better than they have ever been.”
“No wonder FoxNews Ratings are collapsing, and they’re going to go down a lot further,” he continued. “They’re way down, not because of me, but because they are AGAINST me! This happened once before, and Fox almost collapsed. It’s happening again!”
