A wind of anger and frustration blew through the golden salons of Mar-a-Lago, Wednesday, November 9.
The owner of the premises, Donald Trump, who has resided in Florida since he left the White House, had a poor night.
The great "red wave" promised by the Republicans for the Midterms did not materialize on election night the day before.
"Trump is livid" and "screaming at everyone," an adviser told CNN reporter Jim Acosta.
Not all the results are in yet, but according to the latest projections, the Republican Party is expected to regain control of the House of Representatives with only a slim majority, while the Democrats, who were promised a crushing defeat in both chambers by the opposition , could keep control of the Senate.
The disappointment among the conservatives sounds like a personal defeat for Donald Trump.
Certainly, some prominent candidates like the writer JD Vance, elected senator in Ohio, brought him victories.
But many Republican contenders, and in particular "election deniers", those who took up the conspiracy theory according to which the 2020 presidential election had been stolen, failed to be elected in the key states.
"Trump is furious"
"Trump is indeed furious this morning, especially about Mehmet Oz - the Republican Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, defeated by Democrat John Fetterman, editor's note - and he resents everyone who advised him to support Oz, including including his wife," New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman, a fine connoisseur of the Trump galaxy, reported on Twitter.
Also in Pennsylvania, Democrat Josh Shapiro, who was opposed to Trumpist Doug Mastriano, one of the most extreme candidates in this campaign, was elected governor.
This is a key position since it is the governor who certifies the results of his state during the presidential elections.
In the key states of Michigan and Wisconsin, Democrats also retained the governorship against pro-Trump Republicans.
And the results were still awaited in Arizona, where the Republican Kari Lake, the most famous of the “election funds”, seemed in difficulty.
Conversely, Georgia Republican Brian Kemp, who had alienated Donald Trump by certifying Joe Biden's victory in 2020 after the recount of the ballots, was re-elected governor.
The key vote of independents
Two years after Donald Trump's defeat in the presidential election, the candidates who follow his line have therefore suffered many electoral setbacks.
According to exit polls, independents would have voted 49% Democrat against 47% for Republicans.
However, Joe Biden's approval rating with this electorate was only 30% in recent months, a sign that even if they held their noses while voting, they preferred the party which campaigned for the defense of democratic values. .
The Democrats were not mistaken, by financially helping certain campaigns of "election money" during the Republican primaries in order to beat them better afterwards.
The Republicans thus find themselves in a paradoxical situation.
The base shows unfailing loyalty to Donald Trump, as evidenced by the victories won in the primaries by the candidates he has dubbed.
But this same Trumpist line has scared away independents, crucial voters to win an election against the Democrats.
Does the Grand Old Party have to change candidates to win?
He has little time left to decide.
The question arises all the more after the landslide victory of the great rival and potential Republican primary candidate Ron DeSantis on Tuesday evening.
His re-election as governor of Florida was triumphant, including in traditionally Democratic Miami-Dade County.
On his post-election party, his supporters sang "Two More Years!", encouraging him to finish his gubernatorial term early in order to get into the race for the White House.
Ron DeSantis, the winning formula?
An additional slap for the ex-president, who was planning to announce his candidacy for 2024 on Tuesday November 15 from Mar-a-Lago.
"Some are pushing Trump to delay his announcement next week, and several Republicans have texted him if he will, but it's risky and it would be like acknowledging that he took a hit yesterday, which that some of his advisers refuse to admit," adds Maggie Haberman.
Postponing the announcement would be "too humiliating," Donald Trump's adviser told reporter Jim Acosta.
Still, some editorial writers are already imagining what's next.
"Did Ron DeSantis just become the Republican pretender?", asks Ross Douthat in the New York Times, describing the governor of Florida as the one who could lead a center-right platform, based on a multicultural coalition ( with a growing share of Latinos) of working-class voters.
DeSantis' success in Florida "shows that you can be a figure of cultural conservatism, fight the left-wing media and Dr. Anthony Fauci, be a politician ready to oppose Disney if the circumstances call for it," he wrote. .
During the pandemic, Ron DeSantis resisted health restrictions in his state.
They'
For columnist Ross Douthat, Ron De Santis has other assets that make him the best Republican candidate: "You just have to be competent, organized, understand public opinion well when choosing your fights, and also know collaborating with the political adversary and demonstrating unwavering leadership in a crisis Trump's proposed combination of cultural aggressiveness combined with relative economic moderation can work wonders politically, but it still needs to be replicated by a politician who knows what he's doing and who is clearly not Donald Trump."
The summary of the
France 24 week invites you to come back to the news that marked the week
I subscribe
Take international news everywhere with you!
Download the France 24 app