Crushing defeat for the US Republicans: huge blow, uncertain future

T he Americans gave President Donald Trump and the Republican Party he dominated such a slap in the midterm elections that even the otherwise eloquent US TV commentators could hardly find any words for it. Democrats have taken far more seats from Republicans in the House and Senate than would have been necessary to take control of both chambers of Congress.

Even in deeply Republican states, Democrats were able to win or at least unsettle Republican incumbents. Just two years after Trump's overwhelming election victory against Kamala Harris, a large majority of Americans are fed up with this president. Or at least: from the results of his policies. Quite a few who voted for Trump in 2024 told reporters into the microphones before the election that they were disappointed by Trump's broken promises: the reduction in the cost of living and the rejection of new wars have given way to Trump's inflationary tariff policy and the gasoline price-increasing war against Iran.

And many people only found the deportation of “illegal” migrants worthwhile until masked gunmen showed up, kidnapped their neighbors and took the workforce away from the economy. This night's election results also mean that not a majority of Americans have become completely callous and crazy.

So does this election actually mark the end of Trumpism in the US and in the Republican Party? Not with someone like Trump. With such a result, any other president would become the lamest of all lame ducks, perhaps taking refuge in a few foreign policy initiatives in which Congress has little say and otherwise watching from the White House as his party fights for the successor candidate.

That's difficult for Trump to imagine - in any case, he won't leave the spotlight voluntarily. Rather, it can be assumed that the more closely a democratically controlled Congress tries to contain him, the more he loses what little respect he has for rules and laws and the more wildly and angrily he lashes out. Incidentally, this can also affect Europe, Cuba, the Middle East, and certainly Ukraine.

One of the big questions will be whether the electoral gossip will finally lead to the Republicans waking up so that they don't go under as a party with Trump. But this requires leaders who dare to contradict. Arch-right culture warrior Ron DeSantis, outgoing governor of Florida, has just taken his first steps in this direction by daring to blame high gasoline prices on Trump's war in Iran. But whether there is more to come is uncertain.

The Democrats, for their part, have internal power struggles ahead of them, and not just over the question of the presidential candidacy in 2028. They have won so comprehensively that it is difficult to determine whether left-wing, progressive or more centrist approaches are more promising.

And: They have to think very carefully about what they want to do with their new power in Washington. The moment will very quickly come when Trump's rule violations reach such a level that a Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives will believe that they have little choice but to initiate further impeachment proceedings - a deeply unpopular measure even among many who now voted Democratic.

Trump has done everything he can to shift power in Washington further towards the White House. It must be the task of the Democrats to at least build an effective counterweight again. And Europe should not fall into euphoria in view of this election result: nothing will get easier in the transatlantic relationship, and perhaps even many things will become much more dramatic.