President Trump is in a post-election funk
as the blue wave that put Democrats in charge of the House
keeps getting bigger.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
♪♪
As bad as things looked for Republicans
going into last week's midterms,
Trump himself was apparently optimistic on election night.
"Vanity Fair" reported
that about 100 friends and allies
gathered at the White House for a party
to watch the midterm election results.
Trump was in high spirits as the first polls closed,
thinking that perhaps he'd defied
the laws of political gravity once again.
"His mood was great,"
one Republican who spoke with Trump said.
"But that was before everything went bad."
And you do not want to be at a party with Donald Trump
when things go bad.
I bet Trump's the kind of guy who would start the night
at the blender making margaritas and singing Cardi B...
and, at the end of the night, crying in the bathtub
eating burgers with the wrappers still on.
"Why can't you vote, hamburger?"
Of course, early on, it seemed like Trump
might have good reason to be in high spirits,
because the narrative about what was happening
got set very early by the media, which declared unequivocally
that the election was definitely not a blue wave.
-When you look at what's going on here tonight,
this is not a blue wave.
-This is not a blue wave. -It is not a blue wave.
-It's nothing like a blue wave or a tidal wave.
-It's not a blue wave.
-So we haven't seen the blue wave.
-There is not a blue wave.
-That was like two hours in.
Can you imagine if these guys
had been calling the 1980 Olympics?
-Do you believe in miracles?!
No!
[ Laughter ]
The media rushed to set a narrative
before most of the results were actually in,
but now in the week since the elections,
it's become clear that this was, in fact, a blue wave.
In fact, just to give you an idea
of how wrong the media narrative turned out to be,
take South Carolina, a deep-red state Trump won by 14 points.
Trump intervened in the GOP primary
for a South Carolina Congressional seat
to campaign against the sitting Republican, Mark Sanford,
a Trump critic.
Sanford famously had an affair while he was governor,
and when he disappeared, his initial excuse
was that he was hiking the Appalachian Trail.
Trump repeatedly mocked Sanford for that but got the name wrong.
-Never liked him too much. I wasn't a big fan.
The Tallahassee Trail. Must be a beautiful place.
Unfortunately, he didn't go there.
-No, he didn't, because...
there's no such thing.
Tallahassee Trail sounds like something you'd see
on the price list at a Florida waxing salon.
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
So...
So, Trump helped push Sanford out in favor of Katie Arrington,
a Republican who ran as a staunch Trump ally.
Now, remember, this is a seat
that has been held by Republicans since the '80s.
Let's see how Trump's
handpicked Republican candidate did.
-The Democratic candidate, Joe Cunningham,
defeated Republican Katie Arrington.
It's a surprising upset in a district
that favored President Trump by double digits in 2016.
And it's a seat held by a Republican for four decades.
-Damn! No wonder Trump's depressed.
When he heard that, he probably stormed out of the White House
screaming, "If anyone needs me,
I'll be hiking the Tallahassee Trail!"
[ Cheers and applause ]
Trump couldn't even get a close ally elected in a district
that's been held by Republicans for four decades
in a deep-red state he won by 14 points.
And as the reality of the blue wave
has come into focus over the last week,
Trump has apparently been in a post-election funk.
One administration official said
the President has lashed out at several aides,
from junior press assistants to senior officials.
He's also fighting with American allies
like French President Emmanuel Macron.
For two years, Trump has been desperate to be Macron's friend,
at one point even brushing dandruff off of his shoulder.
-We do have a very special relationship.
In fact, I'll get that little piece of dandruff off.
It'll be... We have to make him perfect.
He is perfect.
-Dude. Play it cool.
You can tell Trump has never had adult friends.
Because as soon as he finds one,
he starts grooming him like a capuchin monkey.
"You want to eat a bug from my hair?"
Well, after the midterms,
their budding bromance immediately started to cool off
when an angry and sullen Trump
decided to lash out at France over trade,
specifically targeting one of France's most iconic exports.
-This is what he said. He said on trade,
"France makes excellent wine, but so does the U.S.
The problem is that France
makes it very hard for the U.S. to sell its wines into France
and charges big tariffs,
whereas the U.S. makes it easy for French wines
and charges very small tariffs.
Not fair. Must change."
-"Not fair. Must change."
You know, it's very hard to come off as an expert on wine
when you talk like Frankenstein.
"Aroma good.
Body full.
Fire bad."
And, dude, you're picking a fight with France over wine?
We have no chance.
One of their most famous wines is a Bordeaux,
called Grand Cru Classé,
made by a vineyard called the Chateau Latour.
One of our most famous wines
is a box with a spout sticking out of it.
[ Laughter, cheers, applause ]
So, why --
Why is Trump lashing out at everyone?
Well, in particular, that he --
I'm sorry. So, why --
So, why is Trump lashing out at everyone, question mark?
Wally just pointed at the question mark for me.
[ Laughter ]
Do you want to -- Wally, you want to bring
the card around and show everybody
how squeezed up that question mark is?
Show them. Come on, Wally.
Bring me the card. [ Laughter ]
Come on. [ Applause ]
You wonder why I got that wrong. Look at Wally.
Look where Wally put that question mark.
[ Laughter and applause ]
[ Laughter continues ]
Just use another card.
[ Laughter ]
So, why is Trump lashing out at everyone?
[ Laughter, cheers, applause ]
In your defense, Wally,
the "why" should've given it away, as well.
[ Laughter ]
Well, in particular, he's depressed over the prospect
that Democrats will now use their subpoena power
in the House to investigate everything from his tax returns
to his bank records.
He's spent two years making enemies
in the Democratic caucus,
and now, those enemies will have tremendous power.
Just take California Congresswoman Maxine Waters,
who has been the subject of Trump's racist insults
for months and especially in the closing days of the election.
-I watch this Maxine Waters.
You ever seen Maxine Waters?
[ Audience murmuring ]
A low I.Q. individual.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Low I.Q.
Many of these Democrat politicians
who are really disciples
of a very low I.Q. person, Maxine Waters.
Your new de facto leader of the Democrat party,
the legendary Maxine Waters.
Legendary?
Leave it to Trump to think he's insulting someone
by giving them a kick-ass nickname.
[ Laughter ]
"The Legendary Maxine Waters" sounds like something
Angela Bassett would win an Oscar for.
[ Laughter and applause ] Trump decided --
Trump decided to spend two years
making Maxine Waters his arch nemesis.
And now it looks like that decision
has come back to bite him.
But I mean, really, how bad could it be?
What's the worst that Maxine Waters could do to Trump?
-Maxine Waters, who won re-election Tuesday,
will likely take over as the chairperson
of the House Financial Services committee.
Waters, a vocal critic of Trump,
could have power to subpoena the president's tax returns.
-Damn! [ Cheers and applause ]
Damn. She can subpoena his tax returns, his bank records.
Hell, she can subpoena the results of his I.Q. test.
[ Laughter ]
Trump has probably been calling her every day for a week
like a sleazy Hollywood agent
trying to make it up with a client.
"Maxine, baby, this is all one big misunderstanding.
When I said low I.Q., I meant high I.Q.
And when I said I.Q., I meant "iconic queen."
You are an iconic queen.
Slay. Slay, Queen, slay."
[ Laughter ]
"Please don't subpoena my tax returns!"
[ Laughter, cheers, applause ]
But as much --
[ Cheers and applause ]
As much focus as there is on investigating Trump,
one of the keys to the Democrats' success
is that they ran on an agenda
focused on issues like healthcare.
And now they'll have the power to pass bills in the House,
like Medicare for all
and force Republicans to take positions on them.
And that has right-wing Fox News pundits
like Laura Ingraham freaking out.
-Fresh-faced congressional members
descended on the Capitol for orientation today.
Congresswoman-elect Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar,
Ayanna Pressley, and Ocasio-Cortez,
they represent some of the most radical views in Congress.
Free college for all.
Free healthcare for all.
The abolishment of ICE.
A green new deal, where the U.S. depends entirely
on renewable energy.
-Wait. They're trying to scare us with free healthcare?
[ Laughter ]
You know an idea is popular
when even Fox News can't make it sound bad.
"What's next? These radical socialists
are proposing crazy new ideas like free pizza,
a trunk full of gold, 'Hamilton' tickets,
a kiss from Ryan Gosling!"
[ Cheers and applause ]
Trump knows that he'll be held accountable for his actions
for the first time in two years, and as a result, he's panicking.
A week after the midterms, it's clear that we saw
a blue wave and a national repudiation of his presidency,
with Democrats winning everywhere from the coast
to the Midwest to the...
-Tallahassee Trail.
-This has been "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]