Waterloo Region Record

Election aftermath

Trump claims victory for GOP despite divided Congress

- JAMES MCCARTEN

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump must have been spoiling for a fight when he woke up to a harsh new political reality: a divided Congress, newly empowered Democrats and maybe even a powerful new presidenti­al challenger.

While a surge of opposition didn’t swamp the Senate, where the Republican­s actually made gains, Democrats turned the tide in the House of Representa­tives, forming a majority that gives them more power to subpoena cabinet members, investigat­e the president’s ties to Russia and compel the release of the his tax returns.

But to hear Trump tell it, the mid-terms represente­d an “almost total victory” for his party. By turns conciliato­ry and combative, Trump put on a vintage performanc­e Wednesday in the East Room of the White House — listing Republican­s who lost after rejecting his campaign help, sparring angrily with reporters and offering to work with Democrats only if they stand down on their investigat­ive threats.

“They did very poorly,” he said of a number of Republican incumbents who turned down his support, several of whom he mentioned by name. “I’m not sure that I should be happy or sad, but I feel just fine about it.”

Within hours of the end of the 90-minute news conference, another prominent name was gone: Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who submitted his resignatio­n Wednesday “at (Trump’s) request” after months of being vilified and embarrasse­d publicly by the president for recusing himself from the Russia investigat­ion. Whenever the subject of Russia or taxes came up Wednesday, Trump sounded like he was issuing an ultimatum.

“They’ve got nothing, zero. You know why? ’Cause there is nothing,” he said of the Democrats, suggesting that he would push Senate investigat­ions of Democrats’ conduct if they try the same thing with him. “They can play that game, but we can play it better, because we have a thing called the United States Senate, and a lot of very questionab­le things were done, between leaks of classified informatio­n and many other elements that should not have taken place.”

One thing that clearly didn’t change overnight was Trump’s contempt for the media, particular­ly CNN.

“You are a rude, terrible person,” Trump said during one especially heated exchange when CNN’s Jim Acosta tried to steer the line of questionin­g towards the ongoing Russia investigat­ion. “The way you treat (press secretary) Sarah Huckabee is horrible and the way you treat other people are horrible. You shouldn’t treat people that way.”

Tuesday’s vote ushered a number of new and diverse faces into Congress, including the first Muslim, Indigenous and Koreanborn women, while voters in Colorado made Jared Polis the first openly gay man to be elected a state governor. And it might also have freed up another Democratic superstar to take a run at the White House: the charismati­c Beto O’Rourke, who was edged out in his bid to represent Texas in the Senate by Republican incumbent Ted Cruz. O’Rourke capped off a remarkably strong campaign with a concession speech that sounded much more like a call to arms.

“We are great people: ambitious, defined by our aspiration­s, the hard work that we are willing to commit in order to achieve them,” he told supporters in his hometown of El Paso. “Every single one of us — Republican­s, Democrats, independen­ts, from the biggest of cities to the smallest of towns — the people of Texas want to do and will do the great work of this country.”

Before Tuesday’s result, O’Rourke had said he had no plans to seek the presidenti­al nomination in 2020. Asked if she believes him, University of Texas at Austin politics lecturer Victoria DeFrancesc­o had a simple answer: “No.”

“Had he won, then 2020 would have been tough for him to justify,” DeFrancesc­o said in an interview. “He is a fantastic fundraiser, he has a great message and if you watched his concession speech — I’ve never seen a concession speech like that. That was basically a campaign speech.”

Of course waiting in the wings is elder statesman Joe Biden, visible minorities Cory Booker and Kamala Harris and political veteran Elizabeth Warren, among others.

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 ?? YURI GRIPAS BLOOMBERG ?? House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi , is expected to return to the post of Speaker of the House.
YURI GRIPAS BLOOMBERG House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi , is expected to return to the post of Speaker of the House.

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