Democrats have taken back control of the House of Representatives but not won a majority in the Senate as the historic “blue wave” they hoped for failed to materialise at the midterm elections.
The achievement means that the Republicans no longer hold both wings of the US Congress, handing Donald Trump’s political opponents a stronger foothold in Washington from which to oppose his presidency.
The Democrats now have the numbers to veto Mr Trump’s proposed laws in the House and launch a string of damaging investigations into his administration through the committees they will control.
However in the Senate it was a different story, with Republicans unseating a string of Democratic senators up for re-election in states Mr Trump won in 2016. It indicates many of the president's supporters are still with him two years into office.
Projections suggested the Republicans could even increase their majority in the Senate, allowing them to push ahead with controversial judicial and cabinet appointments with less fear of rebellions. Mr Trump, quick to put his spin on a night of mixed results, tweeted: “Tremendous success tonight. Thank you to all!” Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, said: “Anybody that was anticipating a blue wave tonight is not going to get it."
In some of the most closely watched races, Democrats lost out. Beto O'Rourke, who had become a pinup for American liberals by running a surprisingly competitive race in Texas, ultimately fell short, with Ted Cruz winning re-election as the state's senator.
Andrew Gillum, the left-leaning Democrat who was hoping to become Florida’s first ever black governor, was also defeated, narrowly losing to Trump acolyte Ron DeSantis. A number of historic landmarks were reached, with the first Muslim congresswoman, first openly gay male governor and the youngest ever congresswoman (aged 29) all being elected.
The story of the night was that of two different battles playing out – one for control of the House and another for the Senate. In the House races, all eyes were on America’s suburbs. Democrats quickly made gains but failed to pick off seats which would have indicated they were on course for a landslide.
One Republican senator close to Mr Trump, Lindsey Graham, admitted the party would have to address its “suburban women problem” as the Democrats gained seats. Their control of the House will be a huge headache for Mr Trump. His legislative agenda will grind to a hold, with the chances of securing new funding for his US-Mexico border or another tax cut significantly diminished.
The White House is also braced for Democrat-controlled House committees to launch many probes that could damage the president on everything from his tax returns to ties to Russia, using their power to order witnesses to testify. Nancy Pelosi, the woman expected to become the new Democrat Speaker of the House, said in a celebratory speech that Wednesday would be a “new day in America”, adding: “We’ve all had enough of division.”
More at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/11/07/us-midterm-election-results-live-democrats-republicans-house/
Spring cleaning begins; as expected Trump has fired Jeff Sessions.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46132348
Donald Trump faces daunting new challenge after midterms
DONALD Trump’s life just got much, much harder in the wake of the midterm elections. This is what the results really mean for the US President.
DONALD Trump’s job just got much harder.
His political opponents, the Democrats, took control of America’s House of Representatives with a massive swing in the midterm elections today.
At the same time, Mr Trump’s Republicans retained control of the Senate.
So Congress has been split down the middle. The question is, what does that mean for the President?
Mr Trump seemed happy enough with the result, calling it a “tremendous success”.
That is very much a “glass half full” kind of attitude.
“It’s nice for Donald Trump to tweet about a ‘tremendous success’ tonight. It’s not a tremendous success,” CNN host Jake Tapper said.
“They (the Democrats) are going to make his life a living hell.
“He is going to find an opposition that he has never really encountered before.”
First, and most significantly, Mr Trump will no longer be able to pass legislation without support from the Democrats.
For the first two years of his presidency, he has been able to rely on Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress, and sometimes even that has not been enough.
For example, Mr Trump’s push to repeal his predecessor’s signature health care law, Obamacare, failed when a few members of his own side went rogue.
Now even perfect, iron-clad discipline from the Republicans will not be enough. To pass anything, he needs the Democrats’ help.
Is there any hope at all of something productive getting done? Maybe.
Nancy Pelosi, who will probably become Speaker when the new House sits for the first time in January, promised she would “strive for bipartisanship” in her victory speech today.
“We’ve all had enough of division,” she said.
Former Republican senator Rick Santorum said the President was “not an ideologue” and could be willing to work with the Democrats on issues like infrastructure spending and raising the minimum wage.
In truth, it would require a degree of co-operation that has rarely been seen in Washington D.C. since Mr Trump became President.
And that’s not all.
The Democrats will now assume control over powerful congressional committees, whose responsibilities include oversight of the White House.
They can investigate Mr Trump and his associates. They can subpoena executive agencies, officials and departments for evidence, documents and testimony.
They can even compel the President to hand over his mysterious tax returns, so the world can discover whether he is as upstanding — or as rich — as he claims.
Keep a particularly close eye on Congressman Adam Schiff, who will now chair the House Intelligence Committee.
Under its current Republican chairman Devin Nunes, that committee has largely protected Mr Trump from the prospect of a more expansive congressional investigation into his presidential campaign.
Mr Schiff will undoubtedly press the committee to do a more thorough job.
He will also be keen to ensure Special Counsel Robert Mueller is allowed to complete his own investigation into Russian election interference unimpeded.
“I don’t know if he (Trump) understands how much his life changed tonight,” MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace said.
She pointed out that “every tax return, every scandal” would now be mercilessly scrutinised.
On top of that, her colleague Kurt Bardella believes five members of Mr Trump’s Cabinet — Ryan Zinke, Ben Carson, Betsy DeVos, Kirstjen Nielsen and Wilbur Ross — could face fresh pressure from the House Oversight Committee.
“For the better part of the last two years, the House Oversight Committee has gone dormant,” Mr Bardella wrote.
“Chairman Trey Gowdy hasn’t sent a single subpoena to the Trump administration.
“Democrats, however, will have no such hesitation.”
Over on Fox News, former judge Andrew Napolitano said the Democrats wanted to run “shadow investigations” into Mr Trump, exposing information that Mr Mueller has so far kept away from the public.
Mr Trump is not the first president to face this quandary.
His predecessor Barack Obama also enjoyed majorities in both houses of Congress for the first two years of his presidency. He used that power to pass Obamacare, and other legislation, without the Republicans’ support.
Like Mr Trump, Mr Obama endured a fearsome backlash.
In the 2010 midterms, the Democrats lost 63 seats, and for his last six years in office Mr Obama struggled to get anything through the Republican-controlled House.
Negotiation occasionally worked. Very, very occasionally. But more often than not, Mr Obama was forced to circumvent Congress and use his executive powers.
Those powers, which give the President authority over government agencies, regulations and foreign policy, will give Mr Trump quite a bit of scope to enact his policies without needing to change legislation.
The problem? If those policies are not enshrined in law, whoever becomes president after Mr Trump can simply saunter into the White House and revoke his executive orders with a stroke of their own pen.
“Tonight was a massive win for Donald Trump and the people he campaigned for," one of Mr Trump’s biggest supporters, Fox News host Sean Hannity, said today.
“The Democrats winning the House is meaningless.”
That is, to put it mildly, wishful thinking.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/donald-trump-faces-daunting-new-challenge-after-midterms/news-story/db3f9e8168dc05c9a31cb913eaf3b2f4
LOL watch Trump's bitch singing the same tune as her boss.
Kellyanne Conway FULL Q&A on midterm election results
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said president Donald Trump is happy with the election results and she addressed questions that Democrats could open investigations into Trump.
However according to the delusional Dotard, it was a tremendous success!
Lost the house but retained control of senate......so Trump fucked up partially. Looks like he will be chatting up Nancy Pelosi shortly over a slice of humble pie.
The anticipated blue wave was no tsunami, but it still delivers Democrats the power to thwart Donald Trump's agenda at every turn, writes Stephanie March.