The electoral beating that shrunk Trump and dragged Republicans

The trial of the American voter was equivalent to a beating for President Donald Trump, as he lost the unified Congress to the Democrats, who redrawn the new political map of the USA on Tuesday night.

The dismantling of Republican dominance in the House, Senate and state governments was so extensive that it became unfeasible for him and his supporters to resort to contestation and the usual frivolous allegations of electoral fraud.

Trump suffered furious voter rejection and the failure of his erratic and authoritarian agenda, snubbing the institutions that share power in the US. The defeat provides Democrats with instruments to investigate the president and to stop his reckless attacks, translated into trade tariffs, excessive hunting for immigrants and attacks on allies and international organizations and an endless war against Iran.

Along with the president, the Republican Party collapsed, losing strength in solid conservative strongholds such as Texas, Kansas, South Carolina and Iowa. Abandoned by its moderate voters, the party was left in the minority and at the mercy of MAGA radicals.

The motto “Make America [as North Americans call the USA] Great Again”, so touted in the first phase of this term, has shrunk dramatically, submerged in the impact of the high cost of living for Americans. "It's total carnage," summed up strategist Tom Rath, a former Republican National Committee member from New Hampshire.

In this context, the results of the polls seem to indicate more of a rejection of Trumpism and the Republicans than support for the Democrats, who benefited from a disastrous government.

With control of Congress from January onwards, the opposing party faces the challenge of overcoming its internal ideological differences.

The election of representatives of a new generation of democratic socialists, who are part of the most progressive wing of the party, poses the first test in the race for President of the Chamber, which would naturally be reserved for the current minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries.

At 80 years old, Trump leaves this reckoning with the Americans weakened and humiliated, although he tried to avoid responsibility for the crushing defeat, with the shallow excuse that his name was not on the ballot.

“If I had been [on the ballot], we would have won handily.” He preferred to blame the Republican candidates for failing to mobilize the base of the MAGA movement. “They didn’t like the candidates,” he assured.

Trump's volatile behavior predicts troubled times in the role of lame duck, assigned to representatives who govern without the support of the Legislature in the last phase of their term. While the votes were still being counted, the White House posted an image of Trump's fateful red hat with the word "Veto" on it. It seems to indicate that he will be more of an angry duck than a lame duck.