Donald Trump received a crushing blow in disastrous US midterms as the Democrats seized control of Congress, leaving the president’s second term in tatters.
Win after win for the Democrats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate demonstrated an overwhelming rejection of his policies and presidency.
The “blue tsunami” eroding some the firmest Republican bastions. In Texas, James Talarico became the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in the state since 1988.
In Ohio, Democrat Sherrod Brown claimed a seat that belonged to JD Vance only two years ago. And in Kansas, Adam Hamilton, a megachurch pastor, became the first Democrat to win a Senate seat since the Great Depression nearly a century ago.
Vice president JD Vance placed the blame on Trump’s conflict with Iran and subsequent rise in costs, saying: "The reason we lost is the war.” It will take an “honest conversation” about the conflict to reconcile where “we go from here,” he said.
Pressure is also mounting on self-styled “war secretary” Pete Hegseth, who was expected to be in the firing line for the overwhelming defeat.
Failed tariff policies were also linked the Republican losses.
The president was unusually quiet in the hours after the result, breaking cover with an appearance at the White House to praise the work being done on his ballroom and the Reflecting Pool.
He told reporters that JD Vance’s comments on the Iran war were “largely true”.
“But at the same time, if I had to do it again, I’d have to do it again, because long-term, it’s the only answer,” he added: “You can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon. The Iran thing we had to do, and we continue to do it.”
He repeated his claim that Republicans would have won if he was on the ballot, but said: “You can’t transfer the love [from my rallies] to the candidates.”
Asked if he was worried the Democrats would now try to impeach him, he said: “No, not even a little bit. I think it would destroy the Democratic Party if they did that.”
According to exit polls by SSRS, half of voters nationwide said they saw the midterms as an opportunity to rebuke the president, while three-quarters said they were “angry” or “dissatisfied” with the way the country is headed.
The midterms produced several firsts for both parties as in Georgia, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman elected governor of any US state, while Byron Donalds, in Florida, became the first Black Republican governor in the US.
Democrat Gina Hinojosa will become the first Latina governor in Texas, while Democrat Xavier Becerra will be California's first Latino governor. Abdul El-Sayed will became the first Muslim elected to the Senate after his resounding win in Michigan.
The staggering results are setting up a starkly divided government, with an emboldened Congress poised to reassert itself as a coequal branch when Democrats take over in the new year. They are ready to launch a 100-day agenda to lower the costs of gas, groceries and healthcare and conduct vast oversight and investigations into Trump and his administration, with impeachment an option.
“We hear you,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who would make history as the first Black speaker of the House if his colleagues elect him to the job when the new Congress begins on 3 January.
Jeffries called the election a “stunning rebuke of MAGA extremism” and “a great victory for the American people.”
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer acknowledged the political reality that voters may have been more willing to reject Trump's party than to embrace the Democrats.
“Many of the folks who voted for us yesterday are still skeptical, and that’s OK,” he said on Wednesday.
Trump offered some insight into his plan to obfuscate Congress, sharing a picture on his social media platform of one of his iconic red baseball caps featuring one word: “Veto.”
Ahead of the results, Trump said he expected to issue presidential vetoes for “a month or two” until he can reach compromises with the Democrats.
Rebecca Stone, associate professor of US History at the University of Warwick, told The Independent that Trump’s knee-jerk ‘veto’ reaction reveals how he intends to play out the rest of his presidency.
“There is no limit to the number of vetoes a president can wield,” she explained. “While they can be overridden by a two-thirds majority vote in both the House and the Senate, such a feat would require the support of at least a few elected Republicans.”
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