Three days after the US mid-term elections, the results are still up in the air with no finality as to who is getting control of Congress. Going by media projections, the Republicans seem to be on their way to getting hold of the House of Representatives but only by a slender margin.
With a critical pick up in Pennsylvania, and wins in Arizona and Nevada, the Senate continues to be with the Democrats in a razor thin majority of 50-49 with the last word to be said in Georgia where the run-off election takes place on December 6 as neither candidate got 50 per cent plus one vote in the first showdown. The results from Nevada and Arizona were slow to come largely because officials were being extra careful given the rancour over the last two years and officials in the two states confidently dismissing any suggestions of errors in counting.
All talk of a “Red wave” turned out to be a damp squib. Even if the Republicans get the House the margin is not on a comfort side as the GOP leadership will have less of an elbow room given that the extremist wing would have to be factored in every one of the legislative moves. The “wave” turned out to be no more than a light drizzle as some of the traditionally red states failed to cough up the required numbers — the classic examples being Pennsylvania and Georgia where split voting between the Senate and the Governor races was quite apparent.
A major fallout of this polls has been the unexpected soul searching within the Republican Party. All the bombast associated with former President Donald Trump evaporated when most candidates backed by him fell by the wayside.
The conservative media has also started the distancing act including the darling of Trump — Fox News. “Trumpty Dumpty” said that The New York Post in its front page; and The Wall Street Journal had a sobering reminder for the Republicans in one of its opinion pieces. “Mr. Trump had policy success as President, including tax cuts and deregulation, but he has led Republicans into one political fiasco after another”.
The two of Rupert Murdoch’s publications were just examples of the conservatives ripping into the former President. Trump has now formally declared his candidature for the Republican nomination for the 2024 Presidential elections.
Trump is no longer that big of a Republican force and the sooner the Grand Old Party realises it, the better off it will be for 2024.
DeSantis to the fore
Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida has come to the centerstage clipping the wings of Trump and his cohorts by a strong showing. A one time protégé of Trump Governor DeSantis soon moved away from the toxic environment of the Trumpists to become a competition and an “enemy”. The fact that Trump has nicknamed the Florida Governor “DeSanctimonious” has not stopped many from looking up to DeSantis as Mr. Future and with a vision for all of America.
In getting back to the drawing board Democrats and Republicans have to both look past and beyond Trump but for different reasons. Democrats and President Joe Biden may have emerged relatively unscathed but they have a lesson or two to be learnt, the first of which being in making a conscious decision to move away from the Trump associated rhetoric and antics. Democrats have to start focusing on policies that are at the heart of their philosophy and in the process unifying those who are either totally disillusioned or sitting at the sidelines.
And finally, perhaps most importantly, Democrats have to find a way to get back the minorities who have been their traditional base. The re-election of DeSantis as Governor of Florida showed that he not only flipped the heavily Latino Miami Dade county from blue to red but also the Democratic bastion of Palm Beach. And Hispanics have not been too pleased with the way the Biden administration has addressed Immigration.
The writer was a senior journalist in Washington DC for 14 years covering North America and the United Nations
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