Trump says elections were 'giant step back in history' for US

United States President Donald Trump vowed on Sunday to bounce back stronger from a massive midterm elections loss that he called a “giant step back in history” for the US.

Democrats captured both chambers of Congress in last Tuesday’s midterms that dealt historic losses for Trump’s Republican Party in states they had dominated for decades.

“America took a giant step back in History with the results of the last Election,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, saying that the stock market that had grown during his tenure took a loss after the vote.

“But have no fear, we will be back, BIGGER AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!”

While Republican lawmakers have been licking their wounds over the setback, Trump has sounded defiant and on Friday appointed hardline advisor Stephen Miller as his new chief of staff, signaling a bare-knuckle fightback.

Democrats have pledged to hold the Trump administration to account and fight “every step of the way” against Miller, architect of Trump’s tough immigration policy.

It will be the first time that Trump, a Republican who also held the White House from 2017 to 2021, has had to contend with a Democratic-controlled Congress in both chambers.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has said the incoming majority will be focused on affordability and accountability.

“We don’t work for Donald Trump,” the New York lawmaker told reporters on Wednesday. “We work for the American people. And the days of the House of Representatives functioning like ​a wholly owned subsidiary of the Trump administration are over.”

The result was a personal humiliation for the 80-year-old Trump, leaving him as a lame duck president for the remaining two years of his term and signaling an end to his stranglehold on the Republican Party.

He had previously attempted to brush off the election results, spending the beginning of his first public appearance on Wednesday talking to reporters about the marble and Corinthian columns of his new $400 million ballroom.

But he conceded that what Vance had said about the Iran war was “largely true because it drove the gasoline up” — a key issue for voters angered by the rising cost of living.

“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 weapon,” he said.

Vice President JD Vance publicly split with Trump over the Iran war a day after the vote, saying the conflict was the “reason we lost” as he distanced himself from the unpopular war ahead of a possible 2028 White House run.

“The reason we lost is the war,” Vance wrote in a long social media post. “The president himself said so last night. If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next six years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a ​worthwhile cost to pay.”