Democratic order prevails in US

Trumpist attempts to undermine Midterm vote fail

There was no violence. Many Midterm candidates who denied the legitimacy of previous elections lost and quietly conceded. And few listened when former President Donald Trump tried to stoke baseless allegations of electoral fraud.

For a moment, at least, the extremism that has consumed United States political discourse for much of the past two years has been replaced by something resembling traditional democratic order. The post-election narrative was instead focused on each party’s electoral fate.

Republicans were disappointed that sweeping victories didn’t materialise, while relieved Democrats braced for the possibility of a slim House GOP majority. At least for now, the serious threats that loomed over democracy heading into Election Day — domestic extremist violence, voter intimidation and Republican refusal to respect election outcomes — did not materialise.

“What we saw was the strength and resilience of American democracy,” President Joe Biden said yesterday at the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia, even as the White House acknowledges that Democrats might lose one chamber of Congress.

New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, a Republican, said Midterm voters were concerned about Biden’s leadership but that they had a more urgent message: “Fix policy later, fix crazy now”, he said.

Yet the “crazy” that consumed Sununu’s party still looms.

Even as many GOP leaders blame Trump for elevating weak and extreme candidates, the former president sought to undermine the Midterm results. Trump posted more than 20 messages on social media since last Wednesday raising the false prospect of electoral fraud.

His expected announcement of a third presidential campaign would give Trump another high-profile platform to advance election lies.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who has raised concerns about farright threats to democracy since before his own 2020 presidential bid, suggested that the GOP has begun to act more rationally.

“I think that a number of Republicans now understand that Trump’s desire to undermine American democracy is not only wrong, but it is bad politics,” he said.

Indeed, across the country, socalled election deniers lost some of the nation’s most important races.

Just one of 14 self-described “America First” secretary of state candidates, Indiana’s Diego Morales, won his race. Candidates who embraced such beliefs also lost races for governor in the Midwestern battlegrounds of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin and in the Northeastern battleground of Pennsylvania.

Republicans who denied the legitimacy of the last election did prevail in Senate contests in North Carolina and Ohio, and Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker, who has promoted lies about the last election, is in a runoff election in December.

On Election Day, Trump tried and failed to sow disorder in multiple states — especially in regions with large minority populations.

Trump posted a message on social media falsely claiming that voters were being refused the right to vote in Detroit.

“Protest, Protest, Protest!” the former president wrote.

The message inspired no protests or even visible tension outside the Detroit convention centre. —AP