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Donald Trump said in South Carolina while campaigning for Darline Graham:
And the problem that we have is they say that Trump does great when he's on the ballot.
But when he's not on the ballot, his people don't come and they don't vote for senators, congressmen, and other Republicans.
And that these people they're running, they're great, but if Trump isn't actually on the ballot, so what I really want you to do is pretend, please, that I'm on the ballot. Just come and vote.
It's so important.
So just say that I'm on the ballot and one more time you got to say it and you got to come out and vote.
Trump made variations of this same pitch over and over again in every red state that he visited over the past month. Trump begged voters to pretend like he was on the ballot.
They did, and they are voting Republicans out of office at historic levels. Democrats have taken control of the House majority and the Senate majority.
Voters rejected Trump’s hand-picked Senate candidates in Texas, South Carolina, and North Carolina.
Trump went to these states and campaigned for his chosen candidates, and they were all rejected.
However, according to Trump, the Republican drubbing is everyone else’s fault.