The diversity of “firsts” is inspiring. First Muslim in the Senate: Abdul Said of Michigan. The first black female governor: Keisha Lance Bottoms of Georgia. The first Latino governors were elected in Texas (Hinojosa) and California (Xavier Becerra). New Mexico will have its first Native American female governor (Deb Haaland), and Minnesota will send its first Native American female senator (Peggy Flanagan). Even the near misses are shocking. In ruby-colored Florida, a black democratic socialist named Angie Nixon almost became a senator. (Had she been more funded, or if she had been three points less to the left, maybe she would have won—it’s hard to know.) This all comes after years of racist epithets, jokes, and myths used by the president and vice president. (“In Springfield, they’re eating dogs! … They’re eating cats!”) The government’s courtroom bigot, Laura Loomer, wrote in the
The scale of the victory leaves no room for Trump to engage in conspiracy theories and challenges to the results. On election night, he was affable by his perverse standards. He blamed the Republican defeat on Fox News, which “constantly and persistently attacks the Democratic opposition.” He additionally claimed, “I was not on the ballot, if I had been, we would have won by a landslide!” #classic.
The results were driven by voters’ most pressing economic concerns: soaring fuel prices due to misguided tariffs and a war with Iran; high costs for groceries, housing and health care; and, for some, anxiety about data centers, artificial intelligence and what all these portend for jobs. But the striking thing about Trump’s second term is that it now appears that he came into office with the intention of flaunting his cynicism, greed and contempt for the American people. It’s like he really wants to drain his support as quickly as possible. How else to explain his careless behavior in the office? On day one, he ceded his seat at the inauguration ceremony to a group of tycoons who agreed to surrender to his power and ego. They regularly traveled to the White House, delivering lavish gifts and large donations to his pet projects. They smiled weakly, forced to listen to his idiotic rants and admire his latest creation. you can leave Gilded Oval Office decoration. They spent tens of millions of dollars to film his wife’s documentary about how taxing it was to endure the attention of help and how lonely it was to be shuttled from place to place in limousines and private jets. Like any tin-pot despot, this is the price of doing business. Trump’s populism has always been a sham. Now he clearly doesn’t care who knows. At the “jungle-themed” Halloween party held at Mar-a-Lago, costumed guests enjoy seafood delicacies at the Caviar Bar. There is a zebra in a cage. Circus performers hang from the ceiling. “Rich people, they spend nine hours getting ready,” the president said cheerfully of his friend. He was wearing his usual blue suit. “I’ve got ten minutes, so I’m here as Donald Trump.”
Trump has demonstrated his disdain for the law, gutting the Justice Department and ordering federal agents to threaten American cities from New York to Minneapolis to Los Angeles. He has shown disdain for culture and education, threatening and defunding one valuable institution after another. He has shown a disdain for competence, filling his administration with ridiculous, often disgusting, fourth-rate characters: Pete Hegseth, Kash Patel, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller (incredibly, the new chief of staff), a son-in-law, a guy who carries around a portable printer.
Abroad, Trump’s disdain for limits on his power has been equally striking. America’s closest allies find themselves grappling with his arbitrary tariffs, his threats to undermine alliances and his periodic threats of invasion. What would a world look like with a US president who, with great self-satisfaction, lavishly praises autocrats such as Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orban and Xi Jinping, while simultaneously trying to humiliate heroic democrats like Volodymyr Zelensky? Trump ordered his administration to invade Venezuela, imprison its president, install a more compliant president, and begin extracting the country’s oil and gold. This is a throwback to the early days of U.S. imperialism, when military intervention in Latin America was a standard tool of presidential power.
The most important outcome of the midterm elections is to calm the fervor of Trumpism and reduce its threat to democratic institutions, individual and civil liberties, and decency itself. Trump’s unique, sensationalist authoritarianism has finally lost its appeal, and he’s lost his plot. This election was also a vindication of those who refused to surrender. By now, we’re all too familiar with the many politicians, law partners, billionaires, CEOs, university presidents and others who cower in the presence of Trump. Part of the reason we’ve survived the Trump era is because more people have done their jobs honorably. Judges, civil rights lawyers, academics, election officials, curators, artists and countless ordinary citizens stood. Their resistance to Trump’s bullying, corruption and ruthlessness has gained new political strength.