AARON PATRICK: Will Americans’ rebuke tone down Trump? Don’t bet on it
AARON PATRICK: The main lesson from the Republicans’ defeat in the mid-term elections is that President Donald Trump should have stuck by his promise to avoid more foreign wars.
“I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!” President Donald Trump wrote shortly before 11pm on Tuesday his time, presumably from the White House, where his public schedule said he was monitoring mid-election results.
The President may be thinking wishfully. While he was not personally up for election, many of the Republican candidates he endorsed in Tuesday’s mid-term elections were defeated.
They included Ken Paxton, who lost his Texas Senate seat to a Democrat, despite $290 million in advertising and other support from the businessman who epitomises the MAGA world, Elon Musk.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.The Texas defeat is particularly painful for what is known as the Grand Old Party. The Democrats haven’t had a senator from the Lone Star state since 1993 when Bill Clinton was president and Meatloaf topped the Australian music charts.
Looking at the national picture, the Republicans have lost their Senate majority. Counting in the House of Representatives has further to go, although a new Democrat majority also looks likely.
Don’t mess with gas
If Mr Trump is feeling introspective, and he probably isn’t, Tuesday’s main lesson is that he should have stuck by the promise that helped him get elected in 2024 of no more foreign wars.
His decision to attack Iran failed to remove the ayatollahs from power. It did disrupt global trade, especially oil, driving up US petrol prices about 50 per cent.
Americans will forgive their presidents a lot. But messing with “gas” is an impeachable offence. If Mr Trump had stayed focused on Greenland rather than Tehran, a bemused America might not have turned on him in such numbers on Tuesday.
There are likely to be two main consequences of the Democrats’ taking control of Congress. They will be able to seize control of Congressional committees and use them to investigate the White House.
Mr Trump and his inner circle have long combined business and politics. Democrats are likely to pursue the President and anyone associated with him for any questionable deals, gathering information that will be used to damage the administration.
Foreign agenda
The White House will have to play defensive. At the same time, a radicalised Democratic Party will actively frustrate the President’s legislative agenda.
Mr Trump’s plans to deport illegal immigrants, cut taxes, shrink the Federal government and eliminate renewable-energy subsidies, which he calls the green new scam, will become harder to pursue without control of Congress.
Restrained from an active domestic policy in the second half of his term, Mr Trump might shift his focus to foreign policy, over which the President has almost complete autonomy.
Mr Trump, a natural negotiator, enjoys the international stage. He seeks the Nobel Peace Prize. He would love to secure peace in Ukraine, although his instincts appear to be more sympathetic to Vladimir Putin than Volodymyr Zelensky.
In an ideal world, Tuesday’s electoral rebuke would help the President re-calibrate. He could become more judicious about waging war and place more weight on the potential economic costs to the world and America.
He could embrace natural allies, including Australia, which has suffered from his trade and military policies. One of the reasons interest rates have risen five times this year is because the war over Iran has driven up oil prices.
Turning point
For conservatives around the world, Mr Trump’s two elections were a turning point. He created a sense that left wing ideologies that had taken control of important cultural institutions, including universities, could be pushed back.
His brash communication style was welcomed by many people, not just Americans, tired of being patronised by elites.
In power, Mr Trump made mistakes. His party has been punished for them. Will the President now change style? Could the world see a more cautious Trump?
Maybe Mr Trump has answered those questions himself. About an hour after the “I could have won in a landslide” post, a period of time that could have given Mr Trump a chance to process voters’ judgment on him, the President began communicating over the internet again.
He blamed Fox News — the most important media supporter of his career — for the mid-term result. And he posted a red cap carrying the word “veto”, a message to the Democrats of what he will do to any unwelcome laws the new Congress may choose to pass.
That doesn’t sound like a guy who has decided to adopt a new approach in the workplace.
