Not Trump's fault? Sarah Huckabee Sanders on the midterm blame game – USA Today

Not Trump’s fault? Sarah Huckabee Sanders on the midterm blame game  USA Today

Sarah Huckabee Sanders isn't one of those Republicans, many in states formerly known as red, who found themselves ousted from office in the midterm elections. But the freshly re-elected Arkansas governor does have some thoughts on what went wrong in the GOP. Was it President Donald Trump? Not his fault, she says. "I think each race has to be looked at independently, and the president, while he still remains the most influential voice in all of Republican politics − frankly, in all of politics − his name wasn't on the ballot," she said in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY about her new book, "Unapologetic," published Nov. 10 by St. Martin's Press.

"And so I don't think that this can be a line drawn against him." Actually, just about every independent analyst and a fair share of those in the GOP do blame Trump for losses that cost Republicans control of the House and the Senate and a majority of governorships. Exit polls of voters showed that dissatisfaction with the president, especially over the economy, propelled Democratic victories in such unlikely places as Texas and Kansas and South Carolina. But her defense does put Sanders − who served as White House press secretary for Trump in his first term − squarely in the all-in-for-Trump lane of the approaching debate about