President Donald Trump had rare praise for rival Democrats on 3 November after their stunning US midterm victory and admitted the Iran war may have played a part in the Republican defeat, the Straits Times reports from Washington.

The 80-year-old refused to take personal responsibility for a result that upends the final two years of his presidency, shifting blame to fellow Republicans. “Well, I say this: congratulations to the Democrats. They did a good job,” he told FOX News Democracy 26. “They’ve been looking for this one for 11 years, and they finally got it. But I don’t view it as a hit on me.”

The compliments were unusual after a campaign in which he branded Democrats as everything from communists to Islamists. Unlike his 2020 loss, he said he accepted the results and was ready to work with a Democrat-controlled Congress — while warning he would veto legislation: “They can send over (…) 50 different great Bills (…) and I send them back with a nice stamp – ‘veto’.”

With polls showing the Iran war and higher oil prices unpopular, Trump acknowledged: “I think a part of it was Iran, but at the same time, people understood the importance of what I’ve done with Iran.” On Truth Social he wrote that he was not on the ballot and that if he had been, “we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!”

The White House said Trump may keep fighting the “Radical Left” and could step up action on Iran despite voter anger, according to the Straits Times summary of the interview aftermath.

Source consulted: US midterms: Trump acknowledges Iran role in Democratic sweep — The Straits Times.

Image: US Capitol (Wikimedia Commons, public domain).

Sources consulted: US midterms: Trump acknowledges Iran role in Democratic sweep — The Straits Times.