Donald Trump won the 2016 election and Republicans did very well down the ticket that year. Since, then, however, the GOP has consistently underperformed in every election since then. It is obvious that Trump has a negative impact on candidates who are running outside of deep red districts.
The Fox News network has long been committed to avoid blaming Trump for anything. So despite the underperformance of Republicans during this week's elections, host Brian Kilmeade attempted to shift the blame elsewhere.
The host told viewers, "I do think its pretty extraordinary to blame Donald Trump for the off year elections that were anything but great for Republicans. In the mid-terms, absolutely, he hand-picked candidates. Doug Mastriano and others that were totally out there. Mainstream Republicans deserved better."
Kilmeade continued, "Just pick your spots. He had nothing to do with this off-year election. In fact, he was late-in to the Kentucky election, that was a Mitch McConnell candidate. Glenn Youngkin was on his own in Virginia. I mean, you don't have to reach. But they are trying to say that President Biden's old, but Donald Trump will destroy the country."
While Kilmeade may be desperate to spin, Trump is a major problem for the GOP right now. He is leading primary polling by a massive margin. As the standard bearer for the Republican party, this recent election season was very much a moratorium on him.