The politics of toxicity and confrontation at home and abroad have led to a severe setback for American President Donald Trump. His Republican Party experienced a drubbing at Tuesday’s midterm polls, with the Democrats riding a decisive blue wave to power in both houses of the US Congress, and taking control of the American government’s legislative arm.
The Democrats managed wins in deeply red states, indicating the widespread dissatisfaction with Mr Trump’s style of governance. For most Americans, the unpopular war of choice with Iran and the cost-of-living crisis it has led to were reason enough to punish the Republicans at the ballot box. Mr Trump, referring to the electoral pummelling, admitted that “part of it was Iran”.
While domestically the economy and the Trump administration’s abrasive immigration policies are likely to dominate the agenda, the rest of the world would like to know if America will change course on the foreign front.
In his second term, Mr Trump has turned the old international order upside down, pushed around old allies, downplayed climate change, and talked of taking over other states’ territory.
His biggest foreign folly — in partnership with Israel — has been the war against Iran. Perhaps feeling the heat, just before the midterms, Mr Trump had announced he was ending a multibillion-dollar aid programme to Israel.
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