Gleeful media pundits dunk on GOP midterm results as red 'puddle,' mock Trump as 'gift'

The mainstream media is dunking on Republicans, expressing shock and glee over the fizzled red wave on Tuesday night.

CBS correspondent Ed O’Keefe declared, "Don’t bet against Biden," as "CBS Mornings" co-host Gayle King responded by listing "red wave" jokes. 

"I’ve heard it called the red sprinkler, I’ve heard it called the red splash, the red puddle," King quipped.  

"The red wave turned out to be just, I don’t know, like a ripple," MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski gushed early Wednesday morning as "Morning Joe" open its program by laughing at the GOP. 

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CNN’s Don Lemon used the same terminology when greeting viewers on the morning after Election Day.  "Republicans predicted a red wave. That did not happen, it was more like a ripple," he said.  

Conservatives celebrated early when Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis was quickly projected to defeat Charlie Crist and secure another term in Florida, but the notion of a red wave fizzled as the night went on. 

At one point, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow was openly shocked when she was told Democrats still had a chance of maintaining control of the House, while Lawrence O’Donnell had the panel in hysterics with snarky comments about the GOP on more than one occasion. 

"The word ‘wave’ has no application yet to what we’re seeing… this might feel more like the edge of a lake, you know, with it just moving up an inch or two here or there," O’Donnell said, prompting laughter from MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace. 

NBC News’ Chuck Todd appeared pleased to inform viewers, "We’re not going to have a wave." Todd later grinned as he declared, "Nobody with this low of an approval rating as a sitting president has ever done this well in a midterm in the modern era." 

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As the night went on and more races were called, early predictions of a GOP "bloodbath" were mocked by the left with the disgraced Lincoln Project even joking that theory "aged like milk." 

MSNBC’s Willie Geist explained why some Democrats were so giddy on Wednesday morning. 

"For people watching saying, ‘Why are Democrats popping a little champagne this morning, they’re still going to lose the House, so Republicans have promised impeachment hearings and everything else,’" Geist said. "It’s because when you look at the historical trends, in the last three midterm cycles, the in-party has lost 41 seats, 13 seats and 63 seats so the expectation this year, being the party in power, 8% inflation, a president with 43 or 44% approval ratings, they should by that standard have lost a whole bunch of seats… Democrats have reason to be happy." 

Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin, a rabid Democratic Party supporter, wrote, "The media’s hypercritical reviews of President Biden’s speeches about the threat to democracy seem utterly tone-deaf in light of these results." 

"The magnitude of Democrats’ success — and Republicans’ disaster — should sober the hyperbolic press, which was ready to perform last rites on the Biden presidency and the Democrats more generally. It does not take a political science degree to understand why Democrats outperformed historic results: Abortion matters. Senate candidates matter," Rubin wrote. 

Others rejoiced that several candidates backed by former President Trump lost key elections.  Al Sharpton on "Morning Joe" declared that Trump "has done for the Democrats what no one could have done for the Democrats, he’s a gift that keeps on giving," and taunted him to the camera.

"DeSantis kicked your behind, Donald, where you live. Joe Biden has revived from the political grave you thought he was in. Good morning, Donald. I hope you have a good day," Sharpton said, drawing laughter and applause from the show's studio audience.

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Scarborough said Trump "couldn’t have hurt" the GOP more if he were an "inside plant from the DNC," before joking that banners for elections lost by Trump would resemble the Boston Celtics championship banners.

Former Obama campaign strategist David Plouffe said on MSNBC, "I think you have to say Donald Trump has now presided over two disastrous midterm elections."

MSNBC's Chris Hayes said Republicans ascribed to Trump a "totemic power he does not have" and he had "screwed" his own party.

"He is unpopular. He is unpopular," Hayes said. "He screwed you today. Screwed you. It's not the full story… but it is part of the story, and the sooner you dump him, the better it is for the Republican Party and American democracy, full stop."

Washington Post columnist Karen Tumulty penned a piece headlined, "The expected red wave looks more like a puddle," which said the GOP "is not exactly awash in self-awareness, but these outcomes might prompt it to reconsider the wisdom of relying on Donald Trump to anoint its candidates or allowing him to remain its de facto leader."

Fox News’ David Rutz contributed to this report. 

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