Trump debacle: On the U.S. midterm election results

President Donald Trump faced the worst political setback of his current term in office after the Republican Party lost control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives in the mid-term election. Democrats not only won resoundingly in their traditional stronghold States, such as Colorado, Oregon and Illinois, and held onto important swing States, such as Georgia, Michigan and Virginia, but they also made historic inroads into “red states” such as Texas, Kansas and Iowa. While Mr. Trump fumed that Republicans would have performed better had his name been on the ballot, he also appeared to be resigned to the imminent reality of working with Democratic lawmakers over the remaining two years of his administration. Beyond the immediate impact on the future functioning of the federal government, this week’s “bluenami” has also brought sweeping changes at the State level: Democrats won a Senate seat in Texas for the first time in 37 years; Democrat Abdul El-Sayed won in Michigan, making him the first Muslim Senator in history; Chris Pappas of New Hampshire became the first openly gay man to be elected to the Senate; and Senate Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will soon be the first African-American Speaker of the House.

It is ironic that Mr. Trump alluded to his name not being on the ballot as the cause for the Republican collapse because, for many voters, the midterm election was indeed a referendum on the second Trump administration’s performance in office. The result has been an unambiguous thumbs-down from voters so far as top policy areas of the Trump administration are concerned, including cost of living and jobs, immigration enforcement, the war in Iran. The writing was on the wall, as were the approval ratings, especially in the case of oil prices and the Iran war, given that the price of gas in the U.S. has soared since the conflict around the Strait of Hormuz escalated. Similarly, the widespread raids by ICE and accelerated deportation processes for undocumented migrants led to protests across States and galvanised progressives around immigration reform. While Democrats may be justified in celebrating their victory after two years of harsh Trumpism, they would do well to remember that the President still retains a veto vote for policies passed by Congress. The temptation to launch a series of investigations and interrogate the functioning of the Trump White House may be strong, yet congressional Democrats may wish to avoid any posturing that yields no palpable policy impact, including kicking off impeachment proceedings against Mr. Trump. A more productive way forward for Democratic lawmakers would be to engage with the White House and, through negotiation and compromise, mitigate the real impact of deleterious policies in critical areas such as health-care insurance and tariffs.