Trump Blames Fox News for Republican Midterm Losses

President Donald Trump blamed Fox News on November 3, 2026, for sweeping Republican losses in the midterm elections, pointing to the network’s declining ratings and its coverage of Democratic figures as the primary catalysts for the party’s failure to hold the House and Senate.

Truth Social Attacks and on-Air Clashes

As Democratic victories mounted across Texas, South Carolina, Kansas, Ohio, and Maine, cnbc.com reported that Trump took to Truth Social to lambaste the network he had long championed. He wrote that Fox News bears responsibility for the losses by constantly putting on the Democratic opposition. Trump specifically targeted appearances by former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, criticizing the network for giving airtime to figures he described as leaving their city in disgrace.

The Guardian reported that Trump escalated his grievances past social media by calling directly into Fox News’s election night coverage around midnight. Speaking to anchors and employees, he called the network’s polling terrible and told staff they needed to get a good pollster. Fox anchor Bret Baier pushed back during the broadcast, noting that election results closely mirrored the network’s polling data. Earlier on election day, Trump had also criticized Fox polls on social media as always the worst.

Fox Attributes Viewership Drop to Midterm Fatigue

Trump pointed to Fox’s recent audience figures as proof of decline, citing a 27 percent drop in viewership. According to cnbc.com, Fox News reported 1.1 million average viewers for October, representing a 27 percent decrease compared to the same month in the prior year. During a quarterly earnings call on November 2, Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch attributed the drop to viewer fatigue ahead of a midterm election with a second-term president. Murdoch maintained that viewers were not switching to competitors like Versant-owned MS NOW or Skydance-owned CNN, both of which reported double-digit primetime viewership gains in October.

Despite the linear television audience contraction, Fox Corp. announced a strong fiscal first-quarter revenue of $4.57 billion, marking a 22 percent increase year-over-year. The financial growth was driven by a 47 percent surge in advertising revenue, boosted by political ad spending and broadcasts of the FIFA Men's World Cup.

Commentator Reactions and the Path to 2028

Throughout more than six and a half hours of election night coverage observed by The Guardian, on-air commentators largely avoided placing direct blame on Trump for the electoral defeat. Instead, hosts and guests pointed to voter impatience, historical midterm trends working against a sitting president’s party, and voter frustration regarding economic pressures. Fox Business Network host Larry Kudlow pointed to administration messaging challenges, while other commentators noted that voters seemed unhappy with the president’s decision to launch a war against Iran, particularly considering the rise in gas prices that resulted from it. Other commentators suggested that Democratic victories would be temporary, with conservative panels agreeing that opposing lawmakers would misinterpret their mandate and pave the way for Republican victories in 2028.

Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the president’s allegations.