Trump says America took 'a giant step backward' after midterm results

US President Donald Trump has said that America took a giant step backward in its history as a result of the most recent elections, according to Hebrew-language reports from two Israeli news outlets. N12's foreign desk reported that Trump was repeating a claim he had made before, namely that the United States had been harmed by the outcome of the midterm elections.

The Telegram channel Abu Ali Express carried a longer version of the statement, in which Trump also said that the stock market, which he described as having soared during his time in office, had lost 3 trillion dollars in one day. In the same message, as relayed by that channel, Trump told his supporters not to worry and said they would come back bigger and stronger than ever.

What Trump said, and how it reached Israeli readers

Both reports quote Trump in Hebrew translation, and neither gives the original English wording or says where he made the remarks, whether in a social media post, a speech or an interview. The quotations in this article are therefore our English rendering of the Hebrew versions, not Trump's exact words. The core line, that America took a giant step backward in history with the recent election results, appears in both reports in nearly identical form, which suggests the two outlets were working from the same statement.

The two accounts differ in scope. N12 reported only the central claim about the election results and framed it as a repeated argument rather than a new one. Abu Ali Express published what appears to be the full text, including the stock market figure and the promise of a comeback. The 3 trillion dollar figure is attributed to Trump alone and appears in only one of the two reports; neither outlet offered market data to support or test it.

What midterm elections are

In the American system, midterm elections take place roughly halfway through a president's four-year term. The president is not on the ballot, but voters choose members of Congress, along with many state governors and local officials. Because Congress controls legislation and budgets, the midterms are widely treated as a referendum on the sitting president and can change how much of a president's agenda can pass in the remaining two years of a term.

N12 explicitly identified the vote Trump was referring to as the midterms. Abu Ali Express referred only to the latest elections. Neither report described the results themselves, so this article does not characterise them either.

Why Israeli outlets are following it

American domestic politics is closely watched in Israel, because the United States is the country's most important ally and the White House and Congress both shape military aid, diplomatic backing and policy toward the region. Israeli news organisations routinely relay statements by US presidents to Hebrew-speaking audiences, often within minutes.

N12 is one of Israel's main television news brands and runs a foreign desk that reports international developments in Hebrew. Abu Ali Express is a popular Hebrew-language Telegram channel best known for coverage of Arab affairs and security matters, which also posts breaking international news. Both items were published on Telegram within minutes of each other.

How to read the stock market claim

Trump's statement, as carried by Abu Ali Express, links the election outcome directly to a sharp fall in share prices. That is a claim made by the president, not a finding reported by either outlet. The report did not say which index or market Trump meant, on what day the loss supposedly occurred, or how the figure was calculated. Readers should treat the number as part of Trump's political message rather than as an established market fact.

What the reports do not say

• Where and in what format Trump made the statement, and what his exact English words were.
• Which market or index the claimed 3 trillion dollar loss refers to, and whether any market data supports it.
• Whether the White House, his political opponents or other US officials responded to the remarks.