1:47Many politicians have to keep their supporters happy
An additional problem is that many of the politicians who have been elected now have to think about their supporters, in order to be re-elected in the next election. “Many moderate Republicans, who believe in working with Democrats, have taken advantage of these half-terms to retire,” Brink said. “It will be a grand spectacle, the outcome of which is unpredictable. Get the popcorn.”
Foreign coordinator Mathisse Le Lux of NU.nl also thinks Biden will get few or no more laws in the next two years. “Biden has been racing for the last couple of years on things he thought were really important, like climate law,” he explains. “He is an old school politician who genuinely wants to seek cooperation. But that has become practically impossible in this time of polarization.”
Democrats will change their focus
Le Lux predicts that Democrats will shift their focus to the things they can still accomplish in the next two years. For example, a majority in the Senate allows them to fill important government positions and to appoint federal judges. Perhaps the small Republican majority in the House of Representatives allows manipulation on certain points.
Another way Republicans will make it difficult for Biden and his party is to conduct all kinds of polls on topics that Republicans consider important. This is also the prerogative of Parliament.
“The ‘winners’ certainly have a laundry list: from the laptop and business interests of Hunter Biden, the president’s son, to the corona politics of recent years,” Le Lux explains.
The direct impact of such studies is often limited. For example, years of investigations into Trump have not led to his impeachment. “But these are issues that can stick with the voter. You saw in these midterm elections that the storming of the Capitol and the fight for abortion rights were important drivers for Democratic voters to go to the polls.”
The main question: What will the Republicans do?
The main question after this outcome is which path the Republican Party will follow. Will Trump be embraced again? Or is enough of the controversial billionaire party? Brink laughs: “If we’ve learned anything in recent years, it’s that you shouldn’t underestimate Trump.” “His ability to fight back after defeat is unparalleled.”
At the same time, both Trump and Biden are approaching their 80s, Le Lux notes. And Trump lost in 2020. The chance that he will suddenly take advantage of a huge pool of new voters is not very great.
It was also noted in the midterm elections that many of the candidates who had the support of the former president did not win. “This is also true of many ‘election deniers’, who keep insisting that Biden did not win the election fairly,” Le Lux says. In this sense, you could call this result a modest victory for American democracy.
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