US Midterm Elections: A ‘regime change’ in the us without bloodshed

President Donald Trump kept pounding away at Iran with the aim of toppling its government. Thousands of civilians were killed in the bombings. Around 10,000 important installations were destroyed. He even threatened to use a deadly weapon he described as the “mother of all bombs”. Yet, eight months later, Iran’s government remains firmly in power.

Last Tuesday, however, American voters brought about a kind of “regime change” in their own country without dropping a single bomb or firing a single bullet. They did not remove Trump from the presidency, but they took away his party’s control of both chambers of Congress, putting a check on his absolute power.

Trump himself had told his supporters to assume that his name was on the ballot, even though it was not. The voters seem to have taken him at his word, delivering a verdict against Trump and Trumpism. In the words of many, this was not merely a blue or Democratic wave; it was a veritable tsunami.

Midterm elections in the United States have always served as a referendum on the sitting president and his party’s performance in government. Over the past 100 years, with only three exceptions, incumbent presidents have suffered humiliating defeats at the hands of voters. During Barack Obama’s first term, his party lost 63 seats in the 2010 midterm elections.

The final seat tally in this election is not yet clear. However, according to unofficial results, Democrats have regained control of both chambers of Congress. They have wrested at least seven Senate seats from Republicans. Democrats have also won the governorships of deeply conservative states such as Texas, Georgia and Ohio, ousting Republican incumbents. Trump had won Texas by a double-digit margin just two years ago. The result there this time shows just how far the Democratic wave has swept.

Trump and his Republican administration had made extensive preparations to retain power. Electoral maps were redrawn in violation of established rules. The Department of Justice was instructed to investigate alleged election fraud.

Orders were issued to revise voter rolls over allegations that undocumented immigrants had been included on them. More than 1,000 federal election monitors were deployed.

Party supporters were told to guard polling stations to prevent fraud. There were even reports of plans to declare a “state of emergency” if none of these measures worked. But nothing helped. The reason was that Americans were no longer willing to tolerate the corruption, misconduct and abuse of power by this administration.

In 1992, James Carville, a strategist for Bill Clinton’s election campaign, summed up the central message of the campaign in one line: “It’s the economy, stupid.” Democrats kept that old lesson in mind during this year’s midterm elections. The cost of living was at the centre of their campaign.

Voters judged the state of the economy by their grocery bills and the prices at petrol stations. In an Associated Press voter survey, most respondents said Trump’s policies had increased their expenses.

The war with Iran has driven up energy prices, which means higher prices for almost all goods. After the election, Vice President JD Vance said, “The reason we lost is the war.” His admission is particularly significant. The decision to enter the war, whose cost voters have had to bear, was made by his own president.

Apart from the war with Iran, another reason for the rising cost of living is the trade war. After taking office, Trump announced sweeping import tariffs without considering the consequences. He said, “We are making trillions of dollars from tariffs.” He failed to understand that the money was actually being taken from ordinary consumers in the form of taxes.

Trump also refused to believe that the cost of living was becoming unaffordable for people. He called it a “hoax” fabricated by the Democrats. Even in the week before the election, he refused to acknowledge that rising fuel prices had created a crisis in the country.

He said, “Prices may have gone up a little, but surely that is a sacrifice worth making to destroy Iran’s nuclear weapons.” At an election rally, he even said, “We have greatly benefited from rising fuel prices.” That was true, but by “we” he meant himself, his family and America’s millionaire class.

The central message of Trump’s “Make America Great Again”, or MAGA, movement has been hatred towards all non-white people, particularly brown people from the developing world.

They are portrayed as outsiders and as threats to America’s Christian and white civilisation. Vice President JD Vance had said that the presence of outsiders had brought the United States to the brink of “civilisational erasure”.

One of the main reasons for Trump’s victory in the 2024 election was his hardline stance against illegal immigration. It must be acknowledged that this tough approach effectively halted the influx of undocumented immigrants across the southern border, earning him praise.

But in the name of stopping illegal immigration, he launched military-style operations across the country, primarily targeting immigrants from South America, particularly Mexico. Immigration officers wearing masks, known as ICE agents, began wreaking havoc in cities across the United States under the pretext of deporting them.

Parents were arrested and taken away in front of their young children. On allegations of illegal entry, people were shackled and sent to a third country. Several American citizens were also killed in ICE shootings.

This anti-immigration campaign was one of the main reasons behind the Republicans’ defeat in the midterm elections. In 2024, Mexican Americans in Texas and Arizona had voted overwhelmingly for Trump. This time, they voted against him.

It was because of the Hispanic vote that Texas elected a Democratic senator for the first time in 40 years. A Hispanic woman also became governor. Republicans lost control of the Texas House of Representatives as well.

One of these so-called outsiders is Michigan’s newly elected senator, Abdul El-Sayed. President Trump described him in various ways—as a jihadist, a terrorist and a threat to the United States.

The aim was to instil hatred in the minds of Michigan voters towards him and other people considered outsiders. El-Sayed has been a vocal critic of Israel over the genocide in Gaza. As a result, tens of millions of dollars were spent trying to stop him.

Voters were told that if elected, he would not be allowed anywhere near the US Senate. And even if he managed to get there, he would have to pass through the metal detectors installed to prevent terrorism before entering the Senate.

El-Sayed’s achievement was that he did not take the bait thrown out by Trump and the Republicans. He said his goal was to stop money from controlling politics and put it back in people’s pockets, while ensuring healthcare for everyone. After winning the election, El-Sayed addressed JD Vance, who had called him a fraud, saying, “Habibi, now you are obliged to swear me in as a senator. That is your constitutional duty.”

Under the US Constitution, all powers of the state are divided equally among the executive, legislature and judiciary. President Trump has not respected this distribution of power. In an interview with The New York Times, he said that no law applied to him and that he could do whatever he wanted. He said, “The only thing that can stop me is my own morality.” His loyal Republicans never dared to stand in his way in Congress. In most cases, even the Supreme Court gave him a free pass.

That situation will now change. Trump will have to turn to Congress to pass any new legislation or secure budget approval and funding. With their substantial majority, the incoming Congress will have the power to hold the Trump administration accountable on every front—from the war and trade policy to immigration and judicial investigations.

The question is whether Democrats will spend all their time using that power to investigate the Trump administration. Hakeem Jeffries has made it clear that their priority will not be investigations but finding ways to make life more affordable for people. That is the message they have taken from this election.

Trump and the Republicans suffered a major defeat in the midterm elections. Elon Musk was among those who lost alongside them. The world’s richest man had warned that the United States would be ruined if Democrats won the election. To prevent such an outcome, he spent nearly USD 500 million of his own money. It was all in vain.

One of the key items on the Democrats’ election agenda was to oppose the construction of data centres for artificial intelligence without the consent of local residents. The largest number of data centres are being built in Texas, where Democrats now control every centre of power.

A disappointed Elon Musk lamented, “I guess I’ll have to go to Mars to build data centres.”