“The 2018 midterm elections have not checked Trump. Democratic control of the House will not stop him.”
Published in partnership with The Conversation:
America has voted, but little has been decided — yet.
Tuesday’s Congressional mid-term elections were billed — rightly — as among the most important in US history. Decades of widening division have been exacerbated by an aggressive Donald Trump willing to remake the American system (some might say overrun it) with his rhetoric and executive orders.
After 35 Senate races and verdicts on all 435 House seats, there is no clear resolution. Democrats did take the House of Representatives with a large swing; however, Republicans not only clung to the Senate but increased their majority.
EA on the BBC: US Elections — “Yes, This is a Wave.”
In some races, the GOP pulled off upsets. Current Governor Rick Scott grabbed the Florida Senate seat narrowly from incumbent Bill Nelson, a victory replicated in the Governor’s race by Ron DeSantis over Andrew Gillum, who would have been the first African-American to head the state. The Republicans regained the Indiana seat by a larger margin with Mike Braun defeating incumbent Joe Donnelly, took North Dakota as expected, and are narrowly ahead in three other key races — a combination which could produce a 55-45 GOP advantage for the next four years.
But Democrats flipped more than 30 House seats, in some cases by double-digit majority, in all areas of the country. They regained Trump territory, notably in Pennsylvania and even the deep-red state of Texas.
Across the US, the Democrats held a 9% margin over the GOP — the largest gap since 2008 and one of the biggest in midterm history.
So with no clarity, where are the pointers to the American future from November 7, 2018?
1. City-Suburb v. Country
This was an election that only widened the gulf between cities with their suburbs and rural areas.
That split meant Democrats could pick up GOP House seats in areas such as northern Virginia, southern Florida, the suburbs from Pennsylvania to Colorado, and even the heartland of Kansas. But it also limited the advance in House seats that spanned urban and rural, such as the close-run race in central Kentucky.
And it was decisive in the vital state-wide victories in the Senate. The Democrats never had a chance in the deep red state of Tenneessee. In Florida, the Democrats rolled up big margins in cities from Miami to Tallahassee but this was overtaken by the GOP tallies in the smaller but numerous rural districts from the Panhandle through the center. Indiana went back to deep Republican country roots to outnumber Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, and Evansville. North Dakota, the 4th-most Republican state in the US, went back to the GOP, and rural Montana may also go.
2. Health Care Is Not Enough to Redraw Map…Yet
Exit polls showed that health care, despite being down the list of headline issues in the campaign, was the number one priority for a plurality — about 40% — of voters. That portion topped the 20% each for the economy and immigration.
But that did not translate into a decisive rejection across the US of the GOP’s efforts to gut ObamaCare.
It remains to be seen whether this was an uneven priority, with voters in some states — and House districts within States — putting more emphasis on the issue than others. Or it could be that a “soft” attachment to healthcare for more voters was outweighed by a “hard” emphasis on economy and immigration for others.
3. Surge of Youth and Women is Not Enough to Redraw Map…Yet
The extent of the surge in turnout is still to be calculated, but exit polls point to a sharp rise in involvement of 18-to-24 year-olds and women.
Some conventional wisdom held that this shift would boost Democrats. But — again, on a statewide level — this did not necessarily translate into gains.
Yet there was a Blue Wave in the overall vote, and more than 100 women, the large majority Democrats, will be seated in the Congress in January.
Is there still more to be done to galvanize the under-25s and women? Or is this an issue of a surge among dedicated older voters that will continue to bolster the Republicans?
4. “Zero Tolerance” Immigration and Trump Are Double-Edged for GOP
The spectre of an immigrant “invasion”, the primary theme of Donald Trump, offers a paradox.
The false drama may have helped Republicans in unaffected areas far from the border. But in the immigration frontline of Texas, it may have cost the GOP. And in pockets like Kansas, Trump declarations like the ending of “birthright citizenship” may have upset Republican campaigns and led to unexpected losses.
In addition to Beto O’Rourke’s near-upset of Ted Cruz, Democrats took a series of House seats, overcoming the urban-rural split. Could Texans — the young, the suburban areas, Hispanic-Americans — have recoiled from Trump’s scorched-earth rhetoric and policies such as indefinite detention and the separation of children from parents?
And Trump had some reverse Midas touches where his patronage contributed to defeat. In Kansas, Kris Kobach — a loud Trump cheerleader who headed the ill-fated White House voter fraud commission — unexpectedly lost the Governor’s race.
5. Trump Didn’t Win. But He Will Tweet “#Winning”.
Donald Trump did not win these mid-terms. His party lost the House of Representatives. Some of his allies fell. And if there was no Democrat Blue Wave to retake the Senate, there are fast streams of opposition in many urban and suburban areas.
But Trump is never one to accept a reality offering less than victory. So he will seize upon the increase in the Republican majority in the Senate as not only vindication, but an outcome due to his personal intervention. He will point from Florida to North Dakota as he persists with his anti-immigrant campaign. He will rail against a “fake news” media that does not grant him acclaim, and he will falsely claim voter fraud that prevented more “#Winning”, especially in the House.
6. Two More Uncertain Years — If Russia Doesn’t Get Trump 1st
So it’s two more uncertain, possibly chaotic, years in the US.
In “normal” times, a split Congress would be labeled as gridlock, ordwith the Administration struggling to get passage of legislation.
But in the abnormal Trumpian years, the White House occupant is already beyond gridlock. The Trump Administration has not ruled through legislation — it has only bill, the December 2017 tax cuts, to its credit — but through executive orders and commands to agencies: from immigration to tariffs to shredding of environmental protections and corporate regulations to ripping up international agreements.
Trump will press on. The language will be even more aggressive, the proposals more brash. He will be egged on by hardline advisors like the xenophobic, anti-immigrant Stephen Miller, some of the majority in the Senate, and Republicans who have held on in the House like the “white nationalist” Steve King of Iowa and the indicted Duncan Hunter of California.
The 2018 midterm elections have not checked Trump. Democratic control of the House will not stop him, despite a possible attempt to subpoena Trump’s tax records amid questions over his finances, alleged fraud and tax manipulation, and conflict of interest.
Perhaps the only barrier until 2020 is the Trump-Russia investigation: its announcements and indictments have been paused this autumn but will now resume and possibly close on a showdown with Trump
Last week I concluded an assessment, “The most important person in America on November 7 will be Robert Mueller.” This morning, amid the lack of clarity, I am doubling down on that evaluation.
This was a *BIG WIN* for Trump who now has enough Republicans in the Senate to prevent trial by impeachment. He can also appoint federal and SC judges that will please his base for 2020. The Democrats are in complete disarray.
Oh please keep your usual BS for Syria……..don’t make yourself a fool even on US domestic issues,
Well, that’s certainly an interesting (mis)-reading of the outcome….
There are many different readings of what this election meant. Trump chose his battles carefully…he conceded the House and concentrated on the Senate. The more Trump supporters are called fools, racist, anti-Jew, the more they dig in and defend Trump..simply because most are not. .Trump haters would be better served by hiding their hate, or dislike or whatever and arguing strictly on policy without the little digs and they might even convince many reluctant Trump supporters to vote with them on policy. I was ashamed of the way the CNN reporter (Acosta) treated the 21 year old intern just trying to do her job at the press conference. Such behavior does not serve CNN well and reinforces what Trump calls them…and their ratings drop. I am waiting for good manners to return for Trump and also the press. It does not serve either well to behave the way they continue to do. They all appear self-centered and not concerned about the working man (or woman). And I applaud Scott for his efforts to maintain good manners even when he is seething.