WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump faced pressure from Republicans on Wednesday to change course after a midterm election rout handed Democrats control of Congress and voters rejected his handpicked candidates in key races.
Republican allies and strategists called for Trump to shake up his White House personnel, restore discipline and scrap policies they blamed for the losses, including the Iran war and tariffs, as his presidency enters its final years.
Veteran Republican strategist John Feehery called the results a "huge disaster" for Trump.
"He needs to clean house," Feehery said. "Every day from this point forward, he's becoming more and more lame."
But Trump showed little indication that he viewed the election outcome as a reason to change direction.
"I don't view it as a hit on me," he told Fox News late on Tuesday.
Prospective speaker of the House Hakeem Jeffries on Wednesday hailed the "American tsunami" of Democratic victories in US congressional elections that handed the party control of both chambers of Congress.
"It wasn't simply a blue wave. It was an American tsunami," Jeffries, who is poised to become the first Black person to lead the House when the new Congress convenes in January, told a news conference.
"We're humbled by the outcome," Jeffries said, vowing to "fight hard for every single American, wherever you may reside."
NBC News, with a group of other news organizations, conducted exit polling across the country in 45 key states.
The poll includes in-person interviews on Election Day, and it combines the in-person poll with other methods"mail, phone and online"to account for in-person early and mail-in voters.
The exit polls are not vote results, but instead a look at the thinking and motives of voters across the country.
Exit polls help the public better understand the makeup and motivations of the electorate.
No one knows what Trump will do this week or in the coming two months before the new Congress is sworn in. On other issues such as the Iran war, Trump has said that nobody knows what he will do. So he almost takes pride in being unpredictable.
But in the case of the midterm elections, his being unpredictable is exactly why so many people are worried.
Remember, this is a guy who once said in a 2019 speech that article two of the constitution allows him to do whatever he wants as president.
And in February of 2025, he posted on social media, he who saves his country does not violate any law. And of course, the one who is saving the country in Donald Trump's eyes is Donald Trump.
Perhaps the biggest reason for all the anxiousness surrounding what Trump might do is that the winners of the midterm elections will need to wait 2 months before they are sworn in. and that happens on January 3rd, 2027.
A lot can happen in 2 months.
First polls begin to close with control of Congress at stake read more
(69!!!!)
(for LeetheAgent)