President Donald Trump turned to an unlikely source on Saturday morning to put Republicans’ midterm wipeout in context: Al Jazeera.
Trump shared on Truth Social a graphic from the Qatar-funded network titled “Parties of two US presidents have won House seats since 1946.” The chart shows that the president’s party has lost an average of 26 House seats in 18 of 20 midterms since World War II.
The message appeared to be that this week’s losses fit a long historical pattern. The only exceptions on the chart are 1998 under Bill Clinton and 2002 under George W. Bush.
The chart also includes Trump’s own record. In 2018, during his first term, Republicans lost 42 House seats, one of the larger midterm losses on the chart. The graphic is dated Nov. 2, before Tuesday’s election, so it doesn’t show this year’s results. Democrats are on track for roughly 256 House seats.
The anti-MAGA research account PatriotTakes quickly flagged the post: “Trump is now sharing graphics from Al Jazeera.”
The source is an awkward one for Trump. His close ally Laura Loomer has repeatedly attacked the network, and in June she called it “literally terrorist propaganda” in a post criticizing Qatar’s influence in Washington.
“Qatar pays for more foreign influence than any country in the world,” Loomer wrote at the time. “Defending the use of Qatari sourcing is not a hill to die on.”
At least one Trump supporter on Truth Social wasn’t impressed either.
“I see you’ve been getting your news from Al Jazeera,” the user replied to Trump. “This so-called pattern doesn’t mean anything to me.” The user went on to repeat unfounded claims of widespread election fraud.
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