He's a crybaby': Joe Walsh blasts Trump for calling the Virginia referendum rigged

President Donald Trump on Wednesday claimed without ‌evidence that a Virginia referendum to redraw the state's congressional map had been "rigged" to favor the Democrats. As a county judge moved to block the measure, Trump claimed there was a multi-layered effort to skew the vote. Since the president didn't provide any evidence, former Congressman turned political commentator, Joe Walsh, blasted him, saying he was acting like the "biggest crybaby" after losing the vote.  

On Tuesday, Virginia voters approved a redistricting referendum that could help Democrats flip as many as four Republican-held seats in the U.S. House ​of Representatives and win the midterm elections in November. The Democrats hold a 6-to-5 advantage in the state, but with the new Congressional map, they are poised to have an overwhelming 10-to-1 advantage. Thus, Trump, the leader of the GOP, took to Truth Social to blast the outcome.  “A RIGGED ELECTION TOOK PLACE LAST NIGHT IN THE GREAT COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA!” he wrote. He claimed Republicans were winning "all day long," but towards the end of the vote, there was a "massive drop" in mail-in ballots. He further alleged the ballot language was deceptive, and urged the courts to undo the result. 

While the president levelled serious allegations, Walsh, a former Republican who denounced Trump in 2020, claimed he was just salty from the loss. "Everything is 'rigged' against him. Everything. He is the absolute biggest crybaby who’s ever lived," Walsh wrote in an X post, with an image of Trump's Truth Social statement. 

Trump isn't the only Republican leader to claim the vote was rigged. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson claimed it was a “HYPER-PARTISAN GERRYMANDERING BOONDOGGLE”. He claimed the Republican party did well during the campaign, but the Democrats "foisted" the result upon the people. He further echoed Trump's comments, claiming he was "confident" that the Virginia Supreme Court would strike down the new map before the balance of power swings.  

On the other hand, Democrats argued that the vote was necessary to stop Trump's arm-twisting gerrymandering arms race, which he started last year after forcing leaders in Republican controlled Texas to redraw their Congressional map, according to USA Today. He further pressured other GOP-led states, including Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio, as well. With it, the Republicans added nine seats, favoring the party, to stop the potential "blue wave" in the upcoming midterms. 

Democrats retaliated with the same strategy in California, Utah, and now in Virginia, where new maps have given them potentially 10 additional seats. "MAGA dare I say it, they're losing at their own game," California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a post-X, shortly after the Virginia results were announced. He claimed it was time for the Democratic Party to take Congress back and put a check on Trump's policies. 

Furthermore, some Republicans, including White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, have expressed that the GOP "should not have started this fight" in the first place, in a post on X.