Fox panel blames war with Iran and prices for Republican defeat and calls for Susie Wiles to leave

A panel of commentators on the Fox News @ Night program, hosted by Trace Gallagher, classified the Republican performance in the midterm elections as one of the worst possible for the party. One of the participants, according to the broadcast, said he was surprised by the scale of the result and even called for the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, to resign.

The defense of Wiles's departure came from one of the debaters, who stated that he received many behind-the-scenes messages in this regard. For him, she was tasked with winning the election and should resign before the president has to ask. He said that this is not a personal matter, but rather business, and compared the situation to the change of generals who do not perform on the battlefield. This is the commentator's opinion, not the government's position.

War and cost of living at the center of the analysis

Participants listed possible causes of the defeat: quality of the candidates, the war with Iran and tariffs. According to one of them, the problem is bigger than any of these factors alone, as the bad numbers appeared in several places, including in defeats of traditional moderates, such as Susan Collins, in Maine, and Ken Paxton, in Texas.

According to Fox's own exit poll cited in the panel, 37% of voters said that Donald Trump had the right priorities, while 63% said he did not. Another debater cited that 65% of Americans disapprove of the war with Iran and that a third of voters pointed to it as a crucial factor in their vote. He held her responsible for putting pressure on prices and compared the scenario to 2006, when, according to him, 36% of voters said their vote was motivated by hatred of George W. Bush.

One commentator stated that the president campaigned promising to end wars and improve financial accessibility, but that now the country is facing an unpopular war, with costs that, in her words, are sky-high and affecting agriculture, rural America and the Latino population. The Democratic base was motivated, he said, and Republicans didn't show up.

Divided government and what to expect from Congress

Fox News projected that Democrat Jocelyn Benson, Secretary of State, beat John James in the race for governor of Michigan. In Alabama, the broadcaster projected Senator Tommy Tuberville's victory over former Democratic Senator Doug Jones for state government.

Regarding the future, there were different assessments. One debater recalled that democracy works by pendulum and that the president has already said he will work with anyone willing to improve the lives of Americans. Another predicted that the next two years could see a lot of legislative inertia. A third participant argued that Trump received a mandate in 2024, with the House, Senate and all swing states, and that Republicans did little with these tools. He also cited Republican resistance to the SAVE Act project and said that the war raised prices.

What does this mean for the market

The broadcast did not directly deal with the stock market, interest rates, dollars or public accounts, and any reading in this field is interpretation. The topics mentioned by the debaters themselves, however, are of interest to investors: the effect of the war on prices, the role of tariffs and the prospect of a Congress with little capacity to approve measures in the next two years. One commentator recalled that Congress made promises about financial accessibility and that was what voters wanted. It remains to be seen whether the White House and parliamentarians will be able to transform this agenda into legislation.

Automatically translated from Portuguese.