The US Mid-Term Elections! Some Thoughts!

So, the US is not as ‘trumpised’ as I thought! Instead, President Trump is trying to maintain some relevance. Relevance might not be the correct word for the 2022 election results show that he is really not relevant. He is now being blamed for Republicans major losses. I say losses for we were told to expect a red wave since historically, the party in power is expected in the mid-term elections to lose a number of seats in Congress.

Biden’s Democratic party was able to retain control of the Senate, although losing the House by about 5 seats, results that no party in power has achieved since 1934. The hopes of the Republicans for control of both houses of Congress were dashed. And Trump was to be blamed seemed to have been the consensus of his party.
He pushed to the forefront and backed a number of extreme candidates, many of them ‘election deniers,’ to secure their party’s nomination in the Primaries. Many of them won the mid-term elections in safe Republican seats but lost in states where the elections were competitive.

Worse for Trump is that there appears to be ‘a new kid on the block’, Ron DeSantis of Florida who is attracting attention by his 19 point margin of victory over a former governor, Charlie Cristi. Trump who always demands centre stage immediately launched an attack on DeSantis and then proceeded to announce his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election, the earliest this has been done.

There is probably more behind the seeming madness of the twice impeached Trump since he is facing multiple criminal investigations for criminal tax fraud, for taking classified documents to his home at Mar-a Largo and his efforts behind submitting phony electors. Becoming a candidate will certainly not protect him. The January 6 Insurrection, which was really an attempted coup he engineered, led to the setting up of an Investigating Committee which has been highlighting the central role he played.

The Associated Press found among people who cast their votes that 54 percent had an unfavourable view of Trump, including 44 percent who had a ‘very unfavourable’ view of him.

Despite all of this, Trump can certainly not be totally blamed for the position in which the Republicans find themselves. The Supreme Court’s position on Abortion rights and Justice Thomas’ warning that they were likely to go even further, galvanised young women. The radical extreme voices of many Republicans went against what many young people stood for as was the blocking of a judge on the matter of student loans, as advocated by President Biden.

Many of the Republicans who lost their seats seemed to have accepted that but there are still some ushering noises about rigging in the closely contested race for Governor in Nevada. Even Lindsey Graham jumped on to this.

There are members around trying to reclaim their Republican party which they feel has lost its soul. The inner struggles will continue. Liz Cheney who is co-chair of the January 6 Insurrection Committee was forced into the background by supporters of Trump and will likely present herself as a candidate for the 2024 Presidential Election. Mitch McConnell who had not in recent times found favour with Trump had earlier this week fought off a challenge by Rick Scott for position of Minority Leader in the Senate.

Things might begin to unravel themselves when we see who is prepared to challenge Trump for the 2024 presidential election. But last time around, despite the verbal battles with the candidates who opposed him, they all eventually fell in line and supported him. But this is a different time. He lost the presidency, both houses of Congress and is now accused of being a liability. The Presidency is really not Trump’s thing. He likes the power and the contacts in furthering his business ambitions. If he goes down, he will not want to go alone. If he is not selected as candidate, he might very well run as an independent, if the law does not catch up with him before, and woe betide the party if it still harbours him.

Dr Adrian Fraser is a social commentator and historian