A sweeping Democratic victory in the U.S. midterms deals Trump a devastating blow, signalling a generational shift that could reshape American politics for years to come, writes George Grundy.
THAT PECULIAR SENSATION you may be feeling is called “hope”.
After two of the darkest years in American history, last week’s “blue tsunami” has changed the political map in ways so profound that they will be felt for years to come. U.S. President Donald Trump may still retain the ability to cause mayhem, but his political power has been dealt a severe blow.
Congress, it is sometimes forgotten, is a co-equal branch of American governance. These midterm results are as consequential as the election of a new president.
Such is the electoral wipeout for Republicans that those on the Left could be forgiven for spending the last few days strewing roses out of a hat. Texas has turned entirely blue, Michigan elected America’s first Muslim senator, while New Hampshire will be sending the first openly gay man to the Senate.
Kansas elected a Democrat and it looks almost certain that Mississippi, of all places, will elect a Black Democrat as its senator. The last time Kansas elected a Democrat, that Senator was born in the year the light bulb was invented. This is a momentous event.
Across the board, Democrats flipped Senate and House seats, as well as governorships, often achieving clean sweeps, which will allow full legislative control. The youth and momentum of the new breed of Democrats will likely see dramatic change on the ground, given the overwhelming mandate handed to them by 64 million voters, and an extraordinary margin of nearly 14 points.
By far the biggest loser on the night was the man not on the ballot, who had begged voters to pretend that he was. Donald Trump’s evidently faltering mental capacity was plain for all to see, as his meandering, often nonsensical rally speeches focused mostly on his pet vanity projects (such as the ballroom at the White House), but the simple laws of political gravity finally caught up with him.
Americans hate inflation, high grocery and gas prices, and felt betrayed by a primary cause of these issues, Trump’s war of choice in Iran. This is by far the biggest setback of Trump’s ten-year political career. Nothing else comes close.
It’s not just new faces that we will be seeing, but a new generation of politicians, when Congress is seated on 3 January. The House and Senate will be more diverse in race, ethnicity, religion and gender. It will, in short, look more like America and the first order of the day is to see that House leadership reflects the sentiments so clearly voiced by American voters.
Minority House leader Hakeem Jeffries is widely perceived by progressives as ineffective and far too conciliatory with his Republican colleagues. A recent private meeting with Jared Kushner raised hackles, with many concerned about the rampant corruption of Trump and his family.
Worse still is Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, whose age and half-moon glasses reek of the politics of yesteryear. Schumer’s declaration in February that one of the most important parts of his job was to ‘fight for aid to Israel’ alienated voters and party members alike, at a time when support for Israel has dropped to historic lows.
Both men should expect strong challenges to their positions. Schumer is about to turn 76. New Texan Senator-elect James Talarico was born in 1989. Generational change is about to sweep into Washington.
At the time of writing, the Senate seats in Alaska and Mississippi remain uncalled, but both strongly favour the Democrats and suggest the final Senate balance will likely be a staggering 56-44. The margin is so wide that the staggered nature of Senate seat elections now means it’s almost impossible to imagine Republicans taking back the Senate until the end of the decade.
Prior to the elections, even the most wide-eyed optimists suggested that perhaps 230 Democrat seats in the House were possible. The total might now exceed 250.
For Trump, it means two years enduring being the lamest of ducks. The House controls America’s purse strings, so whilst Democrats can’t entirely stymie Trump’s agenda, they can significantly curtail the funding of his excesses. Worse (for the President), all House committees will be chaired by Democrats, who can call hearings and use the subpoena power to compel testimony from all manner of nefarious characters.
Elon Musk will be forced to answer questions on his use of Starlink to meddle in international affairs. Donald Trump Junior will have to testify about his curious and ongoing adjacency to mob-connected Russians. Attorney General Todd Blanche will have to explain why he hasn’t released more evidence from the Epstein files.
Democrats can hold televised hearings, day after day, week after week, featuring tearful women recounting sexual assaults at the hands of the President, often as children. For Trump and his notorious thin skin, the new Congress is going to feel like a death by a thousand cuts.
There are many more tantalising pleasures ahead, not least the staggering possibility that Democrats could use their new power to effectively abolish the anachronistic Electoral College, a change that would move America’s entire polity forever to the Left, and reframe the Overton window to allow changes to the political landscape that have seemed impossible for generations.
As the end of 2026 approaches, the world’s tectonic plates have shifted dramatically. Viktor Orbán is gone in Hungary and Russia lost a key pawn as Serbia finally removed Aleksandar Vučić. In Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has a fourth term and the much-despised Benjamin Netanyahu appears certain to lose power in Israel.
But the biggest of these staggering changes took place in America last week. This moment has a very “1989” feel to it. Eleven years after Trump came down his golden escalator, American progressives finally have something to cheer about.
George Grundy is an English-Australian author, media professional and businessman. You can follow him on Twitter @georgewgrundy.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
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