'The Biggest Loser Tonight Is Donald Trump'

Former President Trump has teased a "very big announcement" for next Tuesday, but that reveal—which many expect to be his official reveal that he's running for president in 2024—may now be tempered by the results of the midterms, which didn't produce the so-called red wave that Republicans had hoped for. And as the Washington Post notes, it looks like Trump himself will be absorbing much of that bad news, as early returns showed many of his endorsed candidates—including Dr. Mehmet Oz and Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania and Tudor Dixon in Michigan—flailing or outright failing at the polls. More reaction:

• Panned by the pundits: Fox News rounds up Tuesday night's on-air response, noting Trump was "blasted across [the] media spectrum." "He supported a bunch of horrible Senate candidates," observed former Obama campaign strategist David Plouffe on MSNBC, adding that "Donald Trump has now presided over two disastrous midterm elections." Jonathan Karl was more blunt over at ABC: "What I can tell you is the biggest loser tonight is Donald Trump."
• 'Mixed night': That's the BBC's assessment of how the evening went for the former president, noting that "if he does launch a new bid for the presidency next week, it will be from his back foot." It adds that now, after Tuesday, "Republicans are going to be second-guessing his political instincts."
• Subdued night in Palm Beach: Trump "wanted a big ... celebration at Mar-a-Lago," Politico notes of Trump's election night gathering at his South Florida estate. Instead, "he ended up with a new round of questions about whether he's the GOP's future." At one point during the night, he was heard to utter, "Interesting evening."
• Some rosy news: Not all of Trump's picks lost. Among the big winners in his endorsed set: Ted Budd, who ran for an open Senate seat in North Carolina, and Senate candidate JD Vance in Ohio. The Post notes that Vance "thanked dozens of people in his victory speech, but not Trump."
• More reaction from Trump himself: "Wouldn't that be funny if we were better in the general election than on the [primary] nominations," Trump "mused" to reporters Tuesday night, "as if still processing the results himself," notes the Post. The paper adds that the former commander in chief also took to Truth Social to gloat over the losses of Senate hopefuls Don Bolduc in New Hampshire, whom he'd endorsed, and Joe O'Dea in Colorado. "Joe O'Dea lost BIG! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!," Trump wrote.

(More 2022 midterms stories.)