US President Donald Trump has been vocal about the midterm elections, where Democrats swept the House of Representatives and the Senate on Tuesday, with a series of historic wins in several Republican states.
His comments in news interviews and on Truth Social have been making headlines, ranging from co-operative to bizarre, drawing concern about the future of his relationship with Congress.
For example, despite claiming that he would accept election results, Mr Trump also touted his veto power, which would require a two-thirds supermajority by the Democrats to override. He also commented on what the elections would have looked like if he were on the ballot and what his future plans are if being President does not work out.
Here are five controversial things Mr Trump said:
'Mr Veto'
Even before the results began to trickle in, he said he would become “Mr Veto” to the Democrats if they took both chambers of Congress.
“If that happens, I guess I'll become Mr Veto. I'm not going to let them through,” he told the Pod Force One podcast with Miranda Devine this week, before the elections.
But after it started becoming apparent that the Democrats would win, Mr Trump began doubling down on his position on Truth Social.
First, he posted a photo of a red hat with the word “veto” on it. In an interview with Fox News a little later, Mr Trump again said that he was planning on using his veto power to block Democratic legislation.
“It's one of the stronger powers that a president has,” he said, adding that it would be a way for him and the Democrats to “work together”.
“They'll send over things that are insane and I'll veto them. And after a couple of months of vetoes, they'll go out, and they'll say, 'How do we get this stuff done?' And we'll work together.”
Accepting results
Unlike his rejection of the 2020 presidential elections which he lost to Joe Biden, calling them “fake polls”, Mr Trump said he would accept the midterm election results.
“I am absolutely willing to accept those results,” he told The New York Times in an interview. “We’ll work with the Democrats, and we’ll, you know, look forward to working with them.”
He also said the Democrats did a “good job” but blamed the Republicans' loss on his absence from the ballot. “They fought hard,” he added in an interview with Fox News.
'Not a defeat'
As results continued to roll in, Mr Trump said he did not consider the Republicans' loss in the House of Representatives and the Senate a blow for him.
“I don't like to consider it a defeat for me. I wasn't on the ballot,” he said. In his first remarks since projections showed the Democrats were likely to win the House and the Senate, Mr Trump had earlier written on Truth Social: “I wasn’t on the ballot, and if I was, we would have won in a landslide! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President Donald J Trump.”
He also acknowledged that the Iran war played a role in Republican losses. “I think a part of it was Iran, but at the same time people understood the importance of what I've done with Iran,” he said in his Fox News interview.
Deal with Netanyahu
Mr Trump claimed on Tuesday that he made a deal with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who himself is battling for power after legislative elections showed his coalition losing. The deal, Mr Trump said, involved Washington stopping $4 billion of annual funding to Israel. “They don’t need it,” he told Fox News.
“Now, as far as paying Israel, Bibi Netanyahu and I have made a deal that we give Israel $4 billion a year, and we made a deal months ago that we're stopping,” he said. “We've already agreed that by the end of this year we won't be paying Israel.”
The information was received by surprise in Israel, according to Israeli media. The timing over a deal made months ago may also reflect how divisive the topic of funding to Israel has become in the US midterms, as opinion polls showed Israel's popularity declining since the war on Gaza began in 2023.
Alternative careers
As results were coming out, Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social that he would become a political pundit and analyse why each candidate won or lost.
This is not the first time the US President has proposed an alternative career. A day earlier, he had touted his popularity in Israel and considered becoming its leader.
“If people ever got tired of me in the US, I'll go to Israel and become prime minister,” he told Fox News.
