Trump Compares Midterm Losses With Obama, Clinton and Reagan

The two graphics appeared on his Truth Social account Sunday afternoon, U.S. time, and were later circulated by Clash Report. One chart is titled “House Seats Lost in Midterm Election,” and the other “Senate Seats Lost in Midterm Election.”

Two Charts on Truth Social

The House graphic lists “63” under a label reading “Hussein Obama,” “54” under Clinton and “48” under Trump. The Senate graphic lists “9” for “Hussein Obama,” then “8” each for Reagan, Clinton and Trump.

Both posts are time-stamped 11:10 a.m. Eastern on Nov. 15, or 7:10 p.m. in Istanbul.

Historical Numbers Mix Two Elections

The American Presidency Project shows Democrats lost 63 House seats and 6 Senate seats in 2010, Barack Obama’s first midterm. Obama’s party lost 9 Senate seats in 2014, his second midterm, not in 2010.

Bill Clinton’s Democrats lost 54 House seats and 8 Senate seats in 1994, matching the Clinton columns on both charts. Ronald Reagan’s Republicans lost 8 Senate seats in 1986, his second midterm; in 1982 they lost 26 House seats and gained one Senate seat.

The graphics do not name those years, and they place Obama’s 2010 House loss beside his 2014 Senate loss.

The 2026 Count Is Unsettled

Trump’s charts put the Republican loss this year at 48 House seats and 8 Senate seats. Those numbers are his claims, and the 2026 count is not fully certified.

Call the Map, using state election-office returns as of 1:19 p.m. Eastern on Nov. 15, showed Democrats with 56 Senate seats, including two independents who caucus with them, and Republicans with 44. That is a net Republican loss of nine from the pre-election 53, with nine Republican-held seats called for Democrats and none the other way.

The same tally had Democrats leading the House 256 to 171, with eight races still uncalled, including two Louisiana runoffs set for Dec. 12. Among the called races, it counted 45 Democratic gains and three Republican gains, a net gain of 42, short of the 48 on Trump’s chart.

Losses Already Reshaped the Debate

Democrats won control of both chambers on Nov. 3, and the scale of the defeat has already driven a fight over who is to blame. Trump has said it is “largely true” that the Iran war cost Republicans the midterms, chiefly because of higher gasoline prices.

Steve Bannon has argued that the losses followed a break with MAGA policies, including the pledge of no foreign wars. Former Vice President Mike Pence has heard calls to consider a 2028 run after what he called a reckoning for the party.

The new charts instead place this year’s losses, as Trump states them, against selected midterm defeats of earlier presidents.