US midterm elections seen as a ‘draw’

Although Republicans lost their majority in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, commentators agree that President Trump’s cards remain strong.

In Magyar Hírlap, Tamás Ulicza thinks a few emblematic Democrat winners represent the party’s slow slide towards leftist radicalism. One example he mentions is that of Rashida Tlaib who calls herself a democratic socialist. The Democratic establishment, he suggests, is under growing pressure from the radical movement which may well result in a leftist candidate for president in two year’s time. Thus, although President Trump will face hard times in his relationship with a Democrat House majority, Ulicza concludes, his chances of being re-elected seem better today than they looked on Monday.

In Népszava, Gábor Horváth writes that with the House under Democrat control, the system of checks and balances is again fully operational in American democracy. However, with the Senate firmly in Republican hands, Mr Trump will find it even easier to appoint new secretaries and federal judges. Thus he describes the result of the midterm elections as a ‘draw’. The main lesson he draws from it is that far from being a passing phenomenon, the ‘Trump-effect’ has a strong base in society and ‘is here to stay’.

Tags: checks and balances, elections, Trump