Photo: AP/Charlie Riedel.
At last the good people of the USA may have come to their senses – and realised that the Trump administration is little more than a cabal of self-serving crooks, criminals, and worse.
The problem is that the damage done to the USA’s global reputation may already be irrecoverable.
The Guardian’ summary of a day that was truly a kick in the collective Republican testicles:
“The Democratic party has taken control of Congress in a major setback for Donald Trump and Republicans. Here are some of the key results, historic victories and political developments from the midterm elections so far:
The Democrats have secured 228 seats in the House (with 218 needed for a majority) and 54 seats in the Senate (with 51 needed for control). The party has flipped at least seven Senate seats in red states and battlegrounds, including Kansas – which hasn’t elected a Democratic senator in nearly a century – Iowa, Texas, Ohio, Maine, North Carolina and South Carolina. In the House, the Democrats have flipped more than two dozen districts.
History was made in Michigan as Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, an Egptian American doctor, became the first Muslim ever elected to the US Senate, beating Republican Mike Rogers for the key battleground seat. “You took a chance on the unlikeliest of candidates,” El-Sayed said in his election night speech.
Other seismic wins in federal and state races for the Democrats include James Talarico, who became the first Democrat in 38 years to win a US Senate seat in Texas; Adam Hamilton, who is now the first Democrat to win a US Senate seat in Kansas since 1932; and progressive Troy Jackson, who unseated Susan Collins in Maine, ending her 30-year career in the US Senate.
Democrat Aaron Ford won the race for governor in Nevada, toppling Republican incumbent Joe Lombardo and becoming the state’s first black governor.
Donald Trump said he was “absolutely willing to accept those results” in an interview with the New York Times. He added: “We’ll, you know, look forward to working with them [Democrats] … We’ll probably work something out.”
Former US president Barack Obama has welcomed the midterm election results as a clear rejection of divisive politics. “Tonight, the American people sent a clear message – they want a politics that brings people together rather than divides them, and leaders who offer concrete solutions to the challenges they face,” he said.”
With a Senate majority, Democrats will be able to investigate the president and his cabinet members, draw public attention to their own agenda items, assert Congress’s constitutional prerogatives, and block Republican judicial appointments.
There could be some early and senior departures from the administration as some people that clung to Trump’s coat-tails now seek to get as far away from his toxic presidency as possible.
The Trump era is over. The fallout will continue for some time.