Trump’s Republican Party has suffered a massive defeat in the US midterms. (Image: Getty)
There’s nothing Donald Trump hates more than a loser, and that should terrify those of us on this side of the Atlantic.
Democrats will rightly be gloating after the Republicans’ historic defeat; Trump told voters to pretend he was on the ballot. They did, and the results were catastrophic.
And while Trump will be hamstrung domestically, plagued by political gridlock, he’ll largely be given free rein in foreign policy.
Expect the embattled President to double down on the one thing that cost him these elections: his war in Iran. Fuel prices will continue to soar while driving inflation, and Andy Burnham’s fiscal headroom evaporates.
The £100 off energy bills announced in the Budget already feels like a joke to families embroiled in a worsening cost-of-living crisis. If this is just the beginning, we’d better brace ourselves.
That’s not to mention Trump’s particularly prickly relationship with NATO and Ukraine. Will Trump turn his focus to ending that war by whatever means possible to cement his legacy?
Does he begin to weigh in more on British domestic politics? What is the US’s stance on the Falklands over the next two years? Will the President fully let loose on the Chagos Islands debacle?
Trump, free of any future electoral consequences, is likely to be a nightmare for Andy Burnham and Britain.
Trump’s fatal mistake
Trump once said he could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and MAGA would still vote for him. But his party lost the midterms as soon as US bombs started falling on Iran.
There is a lot MAGA can forgive but starting what feels a lot like a forever war is not one of them. Afghanistan and Iraq, largely seen as pointless quagmires to many in the States, cost America dearly in lives, treasure and reputation.
Gas (petrol) prices are soaring – the mortal sin of US politics. To quote Clinton’s strategist James Carville: “It’s the economy, stupid.”
Add in a growing suspicion on the left and right flanks of American politics about the US’s relationship with Israel, and you have the perfect storm for a ‘blue tsunami’.
The fact that my Deep Red home state of South Carolina elected a Democrat to the Senate for the first time in nearly 30 years tells you everything you need to know about the elections. It is a shocking loss for Republicans.
That said, Democrats won’t have an easy time of it going into 2028.
Trump still holds the power to veto any laws Democrats put across his desk, meaning almost nothing of substance will be achieved on the national level.
“The Presidency is still up for grabs; the Democrats won’t do anything,” says one of my more left-leaning American friends.
Similarly to Keir Starmer’s sweeping 2024 victory in Britain when Labour ousted the Tories after 14 years in power, the Democrats have benefited massively from one thing: They are not the party of Donald Trump.
But Trump’s almost certainly not running in 2028, and he now has two years to run amok with no consequences.
And that should absolutely terrify Andy Burnham as he sits down at his desk in No.10 this morning.
