THE CHARACTER OF AMERICA IS ON THE BALLOT
With Democrats poised to reclaim some power, Trump is nearing a final showdown
There are many in the United States who regard Tuesday’s Congressional midterm elections as the most important in modern American history, and they are probably right.
There are at least two reasons for this, and the aftershocks from it will be enormous.
No 1: All signs suggest that American voters will use this election to rebuke and restrain the disastrous behaviour of Donald Trump.
No. 2: The vote clears the way for the ultimate showdown between the president and special counsel Robert Mueller.
This means the most fateful chapter in this chaotic Trump presidency is about to begin.
We all remember how surprising Trump’s victory was in 2016, but we can easily forget how razor-thin it was.
Apart from losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by three million votes, it was only 79,646 votes in three swing states — out of more than 120 million votes cast nationwide — that gave the election to Trump via the Electoral College.
The factors in 2016 that gave Trump the edge — part stupidity and part indifference by many American voters — no longer seem to resonate in the 2018 political landscape.
In 2016, the U.S. news channels treated the Trump candidacy as an entertaining boost to their ratings and profits, until it was too late. Clinton’s Democratic campaign was complacent and uninspiring. Only Trump’s team spotted the genuine fear and anxiety being felt in America’s industrial heartland. But that was then, and this is now. In this campaign, a desperate Trump has been demonizing immigrants and refugees in a way that may appeal to his base voter but has disgusted most everyone else. He seemed rattled in a week that, even by American standards, has been unusually bitter and violent.
First, there was a flurry of pipe bombs sent to Trump’s political opponents — including two former Democratic presidents — by one of Trump’s more extreme supporters.
And then there was the appalling massacre of 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue by a man uttering hateful anti-Semitic rhetoric and denouncing immigrants as “invaders.”
As the country’s designated “consoler-in-chief,” Trump’s handling of these incidents was graceless and self-absorbed. And to many Americans, this week’s midterm elections were turning into not only a referendum on Trump’s presidency, but a historic moment when the character of America is on the ballot.
As the campaign’s final weekend approached, the consensus of polls indicated that Trump’s Republicans will likely lose control of the U.S. House of Representatives but retain a slim majority in the Senate.
Assuming the Democrats do end up controlling the House, that will place considerable pressure on Trump as he heads into the final stages of his term.
And at the top of the list will be the investigation by Mueller into Trump’s Russian ties that, one way or the other, seems certain to reach a climax in the weeks ahead.
Trump is widely expected this month to attempt several top-level changes at the Department of Justice, including getting rid of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the Mueller investigation. Trump’s goal, which is apparent to all, will be to kill or drastically limit the Mueller probe.
After Tuesday’s election, there likely will be a Democratic-controlled House of Representatives standing in his way.
As this takes shape, there is increasing speculation that Mueller himself will start moving aggressively against Trump, his family and his team.
Who could have thought that the first two chaotic years of Trump’s presidency may be remembered in history as a mere prelude to the real drama — which is only now about to begin?