Trump can still act on insane ideas after loss

President Donald Trump seems to be in denial, after he posted on Truth Social that if he had been on the ballot paper in the mid-term elections in the US, his Republican Party would have won “in a landslide”.

The fact that, in the poll run-up, he asked voters to “pretend” he was on the ballot, makes the decisive swing to the Democrats even more remarkable.

This vote, while it does not remove Trump from power, is a damning verdict on his first two years in office – with rising fuel and food prices being the primary concern.

The cost-of-living spike is mainly down to Trump starting an unwinnable war with Iran, which turbocharged the oil price, and picking tariff fights with the rest of the world.

The success of candidates who were labelled everything from “jihadists” to “communists” indicates that Americans are not falling for that simplistic propaganda from Trump and his allies.

But the results could also signal that, in a broader sense, the world may be waking up to the danger of a slide into fascism that Trump and other right-wingers represent.

Trump, though, may still use executive powers to follow through on some of his less sane visions. So, it isn’t over.