Midterms in the USA: “MAGA movement will not disappear overnight”

Interview Midterms in the USA “MAGA movement will not disappear overnight” As of: November 5th, 2026 • 10:48 a.m

The Democrats may have won the midterms - but a quick end to Trumpism is unrealistic, says political scientist Müller in the daily topics. The US government will continue its course - and try to promote MAGA in Europe.

tagesthemen: Would you say that this was an election specifically aimed at Donald Trump or is there a lasting political trend behind it?

Jan-Werner Müller: Many of the democratic candidates have achieved something that has already happened in Europe this year, for example in Hungary and Serbia. You have managed to connect the relatively abstract topic of corruption with the everyday worries and needs of citizens.

It is not new that these types of populist regimes are very corrupt. But many people come to terms with it. But now it was suddenly possible to say, "You're doing badly because the president and his immediate entourage are stealing." And this strategy is in some ways new. It can also be copied and could perhaps be continued by those who want to defend themselves against populism and right-wing extremists.

Jan-Werner Müller is a political scientist at Princeton University in the US state of New Jersey. The Democrats and the expectations of their voters daily topics: But what will the Democrats do with this victory now? On the one hand, the moderate candidates have prevailed, such as James Talarico in Texas, but on the other hand, the more progressive, left-wing candidates such as Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan have prevailed. Which current do you think will dominate the party in the future?

Müller: So it will certainly be the case that the moderates will say: “We have to concentrate on the material problems, we have to deliver.” It's just that they don't have it completely in their hands when Trump repeatedly vetoes it - as someone who is known to seek conflict, sometimes simply lives from conflict and uses it to stage himself. So they will be able to achieve relatively little.

At the same time, voters expect that something like the incredible violence and cruelty, for example from the immigration authorities, will not simply be forgotten. That we investigate further, that we also investigate all the corruption. And there are some on the left who tend to say that they really want to do this and would like to use all the resources that Congress has. In other words, to force members of the government to testify or, if possible, to remove them from office.

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tagesthemen: The Republicans are now in a shambles. Are we now seeing the beginning of the end of Trumpism?

Müller: At least one would hope so. The only problem is that the movement won't disappear overnight. And in the primaries, those who are most committed to certain ideological issues, who want to wage culture war the most, come to the polls. That means more moderate candidates will likely be repeatedly punished by the Trump faithful in these primaries.

The party has a structural problem. She can't just say, "We'll somehow pull a traditional Republican, some businessman, out of the hat and then everything will be the same as before."

The expectations of the MAGA movement will continue. This program will continue to be pushed forward by the government over the next two years. The State Department, for example, now says we also want to promote MAGA in Europe. You can then do an incredible amount so that this movement won't simply disappear from the scene.

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tagesthemen: But this election result also gives one the impression that something is moving. It's not that rigid and crusty and polarized. Is this a sigh of relief?

Müller: First of all, polarization in the USA is still more of an elite phenomenon. It's not like people are constantly fighting each other on the street, so to speak, because they say, "You're red and I'm blue." And secondly, polarization is, with all due respect, not always the right term. Because it suggests that in a certain sense the two parties have both moved towards some extremes.

But the fact is that only one party has moved towards extremes, has de facto abandoned basic democratic principles and has a program that is partly far to the right of the AfD. That is the real problem, because this cannot actually exist in the long term in a two-party system.

Both parties must adhere to basic principles, such as fundamentally recognizing election results, not constantly demonizing political opponents and not repeatedly threatening, at least indirectly, with violence, as has been the case with the Republicans for a good ten years now.

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tagesthemen: But at least President Trump acknowledged this election defeat and congratulated the Democrats. At least a step in the right direction. Here in Europe, too, this election was looked forward to with excitement. What impact do you see this election result having on Trump's future foreign policy?

Müller: It's not unusual for a president to concentrate on foreign policy in his later years. I think it's also relatively clear that Putin will now say, "Okay, he won't be in the White House for long, I'll try whatever I can do to exploit him now." So a lot will definitely happen. He himself will probably invest heavily in a victory for Marine Le Pen in France.

The Silicon Valley oligarchs are still present. They know full well that the European Commission has the power to regulate the platforms. This means that they have a massive interest in further weakening the European Union. The current government can continue to do this relatively easily. The Democrats can do relatively little about it. I'm afraid we need to wrap our heads around the next two years.

The interview was conducted by Ingo Zamperoni, tagesthemen. The interview was slightly adapted for the written presentation.

This topic in the program: The First | daily topics | November 4, 2026 | 10:40 p.m