Defiant Trump taunts his rivals
After sharing spoils in polls, he warns opponents to expect reprisals if they hound him
DONALD Trump gloated of his ‘tremendous success’ yesterday despite losing his control over the US Congress.
The president warned his Democrat rivals they face retaliation if they try to undermine him or block his policies.
Mr Trump spoke out after Democrats broke the Republican hold over Congress in crucial mid-term elections.
Astonishingly, he even claimed he and Republicans had come ‘very close to complete victory’ despite losing control of the lower chamber, the House of Representatives.
In a vote that was effectively a referendum on the Trump presidency, Republicans strengthened their grip on the Senate, the upper chamber.
Mr Trump claimed credit for this after campaigning across the country to avert what some had feared might be a rout that would have deprived him of his ability to appoint judges and members of his cabinet – and made it easier for the president to be impeached.
However, he faces new checks on his power from a Democrat-controlled House that can block his legislation – and investigate him and his administration.
Democrats have said they intend to look into Mr Trump’s opaque personal finances, possibly forcing him to publish his long-concealed tax returns. His alleged links with Russia are already being investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
But Mr Trump told House Democrats to expect tit-for-tat investigations, such as over the alleged leaking of confidential information, if they hound him.
‘They can play that game but we can play it better,’ he said. ‘It will probably be very good for me politically [if he is investigated].’
It’s usual for presidents to fare badly in their first mid-term elections. But the results left Mr Trump in a much stronger position to win re-election in 2020.
Few Republicans are now likely to challenge him and nobody in the Democratic Party has yet to emerge as an obvious candidate who could beat him. Some predict that strong Democratic opposition in Congress will re-energise a president who relishes a fight and who will now have a new villain with which to fire supporters.
After two years of bombastic and deeply inflammatory behaviour that appalled critics around the world, he showed his core supporters love him as much as ever. Within minutes of Tuesday’s night announcement that Democrats had won the House, Mr Trump tweeted: ‘Tremendous success tonight. Thank you to all!’
And he told a press conference yesterday: ‘I think people like me, I think people like the job I’m doing, frankly.’
He warned that Americans would blame the Democrats if the remaining two years of his presidency are mired in legislative gridlock and ‘government comes to a halt’.
The election resulted in more women, ethnic minorities and young representatives but underlined the deepening divisions in the US. Republican states became more conservative and Democratic states more left-leaning.
Educated and wealthier Republicans in suburban areas – dismayed by the president’s incendiary rhetoric – switched to the Democrats, while less educated, rural voters rallied to the President.
The shift away from Mr Trump was particularly marked among the white, middle-class suburban women crucial to his 2016 victory.
Many told pollsters they have been repelled by his attacks on women opponents and by allegations of affairs with porn stars.
Democrat Nancy Pelosi, set to return as House speaker, pledged to hold the Trump administration to account and said she had spoken to the president about areas where both parties could work together, such as repairing America’s tattered infrastructure.