President Donald Trump congratulated Democrats, saying he looked forward to working with them for the good of the United States following a difficult Election Day for Republicans.
The Fox News Decision Desk projected a wave of Democratic victories, giving the party control of both the House and Senate. Trump warned earlier in the day that he would be quick to veto Democratic legislation if Republicans lost power, but struck a conciliatory tone when speaking to CBS News once results came in.
“My message is congratulations to the Democrats, and I look forward to working with you for the good of our country,” Trump told CBS News late Tuesday.
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“I think they’re gonna want to work with me,” he continued. “Otherwise, I’d just veto everything, and they’re not gonna want that.”
Trump previously made it clear he remained confident in his ability to pursue the MAGA agenda despite the outcome of the midterms.
“I have the ultimate power — it’s called ‘veto,'” Trump previously told CBS News.
During the earlier conversation, Trump suggested that his veto power could force Democrats to come to the bargaining table.
“Historically, you veto for a couple of months, and then they come and say, ‘We’ve got to make a deal,'” Trump said.
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Republicans lost key races across the country as Democrats secured victories in the midterm elections. Trump attributed the results in part to his absence from the ballot.
“I feel that I wasn’t on the ballot, and there was nothing that could be done about that. If I was, we would have won,” Trump said. “In some cases, they didn’t like the candidates, and in some cases those candidates were not my friend, and the base knows that better than anybody. And they stayed back.”
Later in the evening, Trump spoke with Fox News Channel and again stressed that he planned to use the “power of veto” to block Democratic-backed legislation.
“It’s one of the stronger powers that a president has,” Trump told “Special Report” anchor Bret Baier during live election-night coverage.
“And they’ll send over things that are insane, and I’ll veto them. And after a couple of months of vetoes, they’ll go out, and they’ll say, ‘How do we get this stuff done? And we’ll work together,'” he added. “You know, I have a lot of friends that are Democrats, believe it or not, I’ve already spoken to some of them.”
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Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report.
