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Trump's fright night. Many saw the midterms as a referendum on Trump. Alamy Stock Photo
ColumnTrumps fright night
Trump's grip on America is broken, but he could be more dangerous now
The Democrats’ historic ‘Blue Wave’ midterm victory has transformed the US political landscape, but a humiliated Trump is unlikely to surrender quietly.
IT’S OVER. DONALD Trump’s stranglehold on US politics and his dominance on the national and international stage have ended. And the ending was spectacular, dramatic, historic.
Abdul El-Sayed, after one of the most vicious and openly bigoted races in US history, made history as the first Arab American Muslim elected to the US Senate. Texas elected its first Democratic Senator in almost 40 years with James Talarico – and replaced its governor Greg Abbott, a Guns ‘n God fixture of Texas politics with Gina Hinojosa, a young Hispanic woman few outside Texas had heard of six weeks ago.
On and on the blue wave went, breaking ceilings and crashing through red walls. Six years ago Georgia was one of America’s deepest red states. Today it’s a distinct shade of blue; its governor-elect, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, has made history as the first black woman to be elected governor.
Senator Jon Ossoff held onto his seat by a wide margin and is widely regarded as a Democratic contender for 2028. Voters in Ohio, another red state, responded to one of the most despicable campaign ads in recent memory by electing a Democratic senator – and a Democratic governor to boot. And after 30 years, Republican veteran Susan Collins, who has proved impervious to previous reversals of political fortune, was swept away by the blue wave.
The incoming tide even reached Kansas, which hasn’t elected a Democrat since 1932. The results are still coming in, but Democrats have taken control of the Senate by a wide enough margin that they don’t have to fret about the vacillations of John Fetterman.
Democrats are on course to utterly dominate the House of Representatives and Hakeem Jeffries is on course to become the first Black Speaker of the House of Representatives. He’ll have his work cut out for him to equal the job his predecessor Nancy Pelosi did during her two-decade stint at the helm.
Plain sailing for Dems?
It feels like a new era in America, a country that has been simultaneously convulsed and transfixed by Trump’s dominance of the national political stage since 2015. Even during his brief post 2021 spell in political purdah, his starring role in the slew of investigations, court cases, convictions, appeals and dismissals that preceded his 2024 campaign ensured he was always front and centre of the political discourse.
Even relatively popular lame duck presidents – Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama – are forced to trim their sails and manage their ambitions, as both their allies, rivals and the media look past their waning presidency to the emerging crop of potential candidates.
The final two years of every two-term president thus far have focused on attempts to realise outstanding policy goals whilst ensuring the selection of a successor who will build on, rather than eradicate, his legacy.
George W Bush, whose disastrous handling of the war in Iraq and the US economy meant he was a near invisible presence in the waning months of his second term, was the exception.
But Trump is unlikely to go gently into the dark night of political irrelevance. While his initial reactions to last night’s voting have swung from blaming Fox News on Truth Social to sounding surprisingly concessionary on Fox News some hours later, it’s a safe bet that the greater the margin of Republican defeat in the midterms, the greater Trump’s appetite for vengeance and domination of the national and international political arena will become. And that margin is huge.
As the reality dawns on Trump in the coming days though, anything is possible. Before any results this week, we’ve heard everything from talk of Trump becoming ‘Mr Veto’ if Democrats win, to his surprising concession to Dems and a ‘we’ve had the greatest two years in the history of the presidency’ on Fox. It is possible that Trump believes that the only reason Democrats succeeded is that he wasn’t on the ballot, however the last two years have taught us that he is nothing if not unpredictable.
Trump could decide to declare any Democratic gains as the results of rigged elections, voter fraud and general foul play, but with these final numbers emerging, it’s not as safe a bet. At his behest, US Attorney General Todd Blanche has already brought more than 30 preemptive cases, including attempts to scrub voter registration lists in more than two dozen states and block officials from counting votes in California, Nevada and Washington state have failed. An attempt to prevent Alaska from certifying the vote if the Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan has been defeated has also been dismissed. We now know this remains one of the most nail-biting of all contests, with only a handful of votes still at play there.
Trump, Iran and Ukraine
All second term presidents shift their focus on foreign policy in a bid to buttress their statesman credentials for the history books. Trump, who from the outset has been motivated by the twin goals of self-enrichment and self-aggrandisement, will doubtless do likewise. But there’s deep concern these animating desires, coupled with a thirst for score-settling, could wreak havoc on America’s global standing.
The starkest warning about what Trump may be planning immediately after the midterms came from Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, a widely respected member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Amid mounting speculation that Trump and the Israeli prime minister are planning a major new offensive in Iran, Murphy stated last week; “I will just say this: their plan is insane.
It will lead to devastating escalation and the likely destruction of our commitment to the rule of law. The plan that they have developed will lead in my view to a prolongment and an escalation of this war that will be devastating for our security interests.” Murphy, who is 53, suffered a stroke on Saturday from which he’s expected to make a full recovery.
Trump is reportedly planning to restart war with Iran after the election. Some of us have been briefed on the war plan. And while I cannot disclose any details, I can say this: the plan is insane. It will not achieve objectives and will set off a new cycle of escalation. https://t.co/adWJfHVIok
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) October 29, 2026
Authorised funding for the war in Iran will run out in December, which means Trump is likely to resume hostilities immediately after the midterms.
Since June, an uneasy stasis has prevailed. Talks have stalled, and while both sides have continued to exchange strikes, the US continues to enforce a naval blockade that is further crippling Iran’s already devastated economy, while Iran continues to claim control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Earlier this week, Trump threatened to end a status quo that has led to a sclerotic global economy by targeting Pickax Mountain, the site of a key Iranian nuclear facility. Military experts are sceptical that the US’s most powerful conventional munition – the GBU-57 MOP – could penetrate the 300-foot-deep granite exoskeleton beneath which the facility is believed to operate. Trump claimed that destroying the nuclear facilities beneath Pickax is ‘not a big deal.’ “We can do it. And literally we can do that in one hour. Okay?”, he told Fox News host Sean Hannity.
It’s likewise unclear whether he’ll continue his shift towards resolving the Russian war on Ukraine in Putin’s favour, by denying Ukraine vital intelligence support and military aid. However, the chances of Senate and House Republicans crossing the aisle in support of Ukraine are high, should Trump attempt to manoeuvre their defeat or surrender by withholding support.
The US president’s iron grip on the Republican Party will be loosened by the humiliation of a defeat and the looming end of a tumultuous second term. He seemed to acknowledge as much in a nostalgia-seeped moment. “We’ve been doing this for 11 years, and there’s never been anything like it. And there probably never will be again,” he said.
The corruption questions and the veto
Democrats have made it clear that the first order of business, now that they have control over both houses, will be to initiate investigations into the self-enrichment of Trump, his immediate family and his inner circle.
Trump’s wealth ballooned by more than $2.5 billion during his first 15 months in office. Defence and newly minted companies connected to Eric and Don Jr have been granted more than $6 billion in government contracts.
His former lawyer Alina Habba accepted a $50 million contract to provide ‘legal counsel’ for a wealthy Venezuelan family while she was still an acting US Attorney. Two weeks after her appointment she was accused of securing a pardon of its billionaire patriarch, something she denies.
Kimberly Guilfoyle, Don Jr’s former fiancée and Trump’s former Ambassador to Greece, is accused of receiving $300,000 of a $1 million promised by a Kentucky pizza chain owner to help resolve tax issues. And Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, has received more than $5 billion from Middle East investors for his private equity fund since Trump’s 2025 inauguration.
But House and Senate Democrats are likely to be frustrated in their quest for accountability. As a lame-duck president, Trump has a powerful tool at his disposal to ensure he and his inner circle are sheltered from congressional investigations that could potentially lead to criminal charges.
Trump is certain to preempt Congressional investigations by granting preemptive pardons to his family, inner circle, legal advisers and Cabinet members who are at risk of being hauled before House or Senate committees. This would stymie Democrats’ attempts, for example, to investigate the US war on Iran, its military partnership with Israel and the strikes on small boats in the Caribbean which led to the deaths of an estimated 250 non-US civilians in violation of international law. Attempts to investigate violence by ICE agents in California, Minnesota and other states would also likewise be thwarted by the refusal of key actors to cooperate, safe in the knowledge they were immune from the consequences of criminal contempt findings.
It’s almost certain that investigations into family members enrichment will likewise be frustrated by Trump’s granting of preemptive pardons, which would ensure that the subjects of congressional investigations could ignore subpoenas and demands to testify on oath. While they wouldn’t be theoretically exempt from the consequences of civil contempt findings, a preemptive pardon ensures that criminal or congressional investigations cannot lead to charges or criminal trials.
Democrats and Republicans alike anticipate that Trump will give full vent to his appetites for chaos and vengeance. He has pledged to ‘veto everything’ if, as expected, Democrat controlled houses introduce legislation reversing his cuts to healthcare, food stamps and education spending or try to regulate AI or repair Trump’s gutting of regulations that protect the environment. Overriding a presidential veto requires two thirds of the House and Senate so it’s certainly likely that Trump will be able to go some way towards thwarting the Democrats’ agenda. However, Republicans with an eye on their own post-2028 survival may not prove as malleable as they have to date.
Regardless, Trump is unlikely to retreat into a defensive crouch for the next two years. Already enraged by the prospect of a humiliating defeat and emboldened by his Supreme Court-sanctioned immunity from criminal prosecution, both Republicans and Democrats expect his odyssey of self-enrichment and retribution to continue unabated.
He’s warned that he’ll sic the Department of Justice on likely Democrat Chairs of the Judiciary, Oversight, Finance, and Foreign Relations Committees who open investigations into Trump. “They’ll probably go after me, and I’ll go after them,” he said in a recent interview with Time Magazine.
Although Trump is barred from seeking a third term, he’s likely to keep dropping hints that he may do so in defiance of the Constitution. Given his noticeable physical and mental deteriorations and diminished energy, he’s unlikely to do so, but by keeping the option open he can continue to focus attention on himself and delay the onset of lame duck enfeeblement.
Flirting with a third term also allows him to underscore his kingmaker toy with the ambitions of his likely successors. He has been noticeably lukewarm about JD Vance’s prospects of late whilst enthusiastically praising Marco Rubio as the greatest secretary of state in US history. The 2028 Republican field is likely to feature multiple pretenders to Trump’s throne – including Texas Senator Ted Cruz, former contender Nikki Haley, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth amongst others and Trump, by keeping his options open, can orchestrate a reality TV type finale.
Mostly, it’s likely that Trump will keep doing what he’s doing; maximising his wealth and building monuments to his own legacy. Attempts to annex the Kennedy Centre have failed, construction on the so-called Arc de Trump has stalled but work on his massive ballroom is continuing apace.
The campaign to secure donations for the construction of the Trump presidential library in Miami is well underway – although it’s unclear whether the $400 billion Qatari-gifted jet will take pride of place amongst the exhibits.
Marion McKeone is an award-winning journalist, writer and documentary maker. She is a columnist with TheJournal.ie.
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