One of Donald Trump‘s more childish tendencies is to respond to difficult questions by claiming he simply has no idea what the journalist is talking about. That can range from being quizzed about something one of his hideous underlings has said, bad economic news he’d prefer to ignore, and anything politically damaging.
But yesterday this flimsy excuse was stretched to breaking point. The MAGA world was unsettled by an unexpected victory for the Democrats in a race for a seat in Texas U.S. House, with Texans voting for a candidate who (among other things) vowed to impeach Kristi Noem and “tear ICE up from the roots”.
Trump was quizzed about this at Mar-a-Lago:
Q: In Texas, a Democrat won a special election in an area you won by 17 points. What is your reaction?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 1, 2026
TRUMP: I don't know. I didn't hear about it. Somebody ran — where?
Q: In Texas
TRUMP: I'm not involved in that. That's a local Texas race. You mean I won by 17, and this… pic.twitter.com/5AcrXd4bc3
Journalist: In Texas, a Democrat won a special election in an area you won by 17 points. What is your reaction?
Trump: I don’t know. I didn’t hear about it. Somebody ran… where?
Journalist: In Texas, special election for legislative seats.
Trump: I’m not involved with that. That’s a local Texas race. You mean I won by 17, and this person lost? Things like that happen.
Midterms MAGA blowout incoming?
As was instantly pointed out, Trump playing dumb on this is ludicrous because he’s spent days talking about this specific election:
And let’s not forget the tweet from a few days before that pic.twitter.com/hqwqdk6B1T
— Laney Hawes (@LaneyHawes) February 1, 2026
One day before he claimed not to know anything about this election, Trump was demanding that his supporters “GET OUT AND VOTE”, describing failed candidate Leigh Wambsganns as “a highly successful entrepreneur and an incredible supporter of our movement” and a “true MAGA warrior”.
Well it seems that Texas is kinda over true MAGA warriors. This result is one election coming at a particularly bad time for Trump, but it’s going to give MAGA strategists the heebie-jeebies over what might be coming down the pipe for them at the midterms later this year. Democrats are hoping to hobble Trump with an electoral blowout, severely limiting his ability to continue to damage the nation.
But then, that’s if Trump doesn’t cook up some scheme to cancel or postpone the elections and declare a state of “national emergency” that’ll let him cling to power.
