#senate — Trump Fail

Trump Spent the Year Insisting the 2026 Midterms Were a Referendum on Himself — and the Voters Answered by Flipping Both the House and the Senate to the Democrats, Who Won at Least 259 House Seats and a Senate Majority, Even Taking a Texas Senate Seat for the First Time in Over Three Decades; Having Said on Election Night He Was "Absolutely Willing to Accept Those Results," Trump Spent the Weekend Calling the Outcome a "Giant Step Back in History" and Asking "How Could the Polls Be So Wrong?"

In the November 3, 2026 midterm elections, the voters delivered the clearest possible verdict on the administration this archive documents: Democrats flipped both chambers of Congress, winning control of the House (projected at least 259 seats) and the Senate (projected at least 54), and even captured a Texas Senate seat for the first time in over three decades. The defeat was especially pointed because Trump had spent the year framing the midterms as a referendum on himself — nationalizing the races, campaigning relentlessly, and telling candidates to run on his record — even as many of them tried to keep their distance. On election night, to his credit, Trump told the New York Times he was "absolutely willing to accept those results." That posture did not last the week. By Sunday he was posting on Truth Social that America had taken a "giant step back in History with the results of the last Election," demanding to know "How could the Polls be so wrong???" and insisting the outcome was not a hit on him. The whiplash is the story: a president who spent months priming the ground to dispute an unfavorable result — refusing to rule out the Insurrection Act, saying he would honor the results only "if they're honest," attacking mail voting and voter rolls — lost decisively, briefly accepted it, then reverted to disparaging the voters' judgment rather than absorbing it. The sweep is the accountability this archive exists to document; the reaction is the same refusal to be accountable that produced the archive in the first place.

At Trump's Explicit Direction — "I'm the One That Said, 'Do It'" — the Justice Department Preemptively Sued to Block Certification of Alaska's U.S. Senate Race if the Republican Incumbent Dan Sullivan Lost, on a Theory About a Same-Named Spoiler Candidate; a Federal Judge Tossed the "Highly Unusual" Suit, and Even Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski Said the Department "Should Never Have Filed" It

In late October 2026, the Trump Justice Department filed an extraordinary lawsuit: it asked a federal court to block the certification of Alaska's U.S. Senate election — but only if the Republican incumbent, Sen. Dan Sullivan, lost. The government's theory rested on the presence of a second candidate on the ballot, Daniel J. Sullivan, which it claimed was a deliberate effort to confuse voters who meant to vote for the senator. Trump made no secret of who was behind it: asked about the suit, he told reporters, "Well, I'm the one that said, 'do it.'" The filing was remarkable for what it asked a court to do — pre-authorize the nullification of an election result contingent on the wrong candidate winning. A federal judge dismissed the "highly unusual" suit around November 1, declining to block certification. The bipartisan nature of the rebuke was striking: Alaska's own Republican senator, Lisa Murkowski, said the department "should never have filed this lawsuit," and Attorney General Todd Blanche publicly retreated, insisting the DOJ did not seek to stop any ballot from being counted or any certification from occurring — a claim hard to square with the lawsuit's plain demand. It was the election-denial impulse this archive has tracked all year, translated for the first time into an actual federal filing: a request to let the government refuse to certify an election it did not like the look of.

For the First Time in History, Both Chambers of Congress Passed a War Powers Resolution to Stop a President's War — Trump's Own Party Helped Do It

On June 23, 2026, the Senate voted 50-48 to direct President Trump to remove U.S. forces from hostilities against Iran — the first time in the 53-year history of the War Powers Act that a resolution to halt a president's war has passed both chambers of Congress. The House had passed the same concurrent resolution on June 3 by 215-208. Because it is a concurrent resolution, it does not require Trump's signature. Four Republican senators — Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Bill Cassidy, and Rand Paul — broke ranks to join the Democrats; the measure cleared the chamber partly because Mitch McConnell and Dave McCormick, who had blocked earlier attempts, did not vote. It was the tenth time the Senate had tried to stop the war. Sen. Tim Kaine, who led the effort, said: "The most solemn power for Congress is Congress has the power to declare war, not the president." Kaine pressed the vote even with talks underway in Switzerland and pointed to the administration's request for $80 billion in emergency spending to rebuild munitions depleted since the war began on Feb. 28. Trump called the House version "a meaningless vote" and branded the Republicans who crossed him "GRANDSTANDERS." The rebuke is historic precisely because it required Congress to formally tell a president to stop a war that his own intelligence community said was never necessary.

Trump's $1.776B Slush Fund Blows Up His Own Agenda: Republican Revolt Derails Immigration Bill

Senate Republicans revolted against Trump's $1.776B "Anti-Weaponization Fund," forcing leaders to delay the $72B immigration enforcement bill past Trump's own June 1 deadline. A two-hour meeting with acting AG Todd Blanche — described as a "shitshow" — failed to calm the rebellion. Sen. Tillis called the fund "a payout pot for punks." Sen. Johnson called it "a galactic blunder." Trump's slush fund to pay Jan. 6 rioters just torpedoed his top legislative priority.