Trump: Mid-term worries
| Photo Credit:
Evan Vucci
Three months to go for the mid-term elections, there is every indication that US President Donald Trump is leaving no stone unturned to make sure his Republican Party continues to hold the majority status in Congress. There are indications of the House of Representatives, where the Grand Old Party has a slender lead, flipping. Increasingly there are signs that the Senate could also be within the striking distance of Democrats.And the White House knows well that if Democrats even control one of the two Houses, Trump’s legislative agenda is in big trouble. Already some Republicans are flagging the concern that there is only one reason why Democrats want to capture power on Capitol Hill: to start the Impeachment process all over again.In the run-up to the November 3 showdown, Trump has posted impressive victories in the primaries making sure to humble candidates that did not have his backing even if some within the GOP have felt uncomfortable in seeing veteran law makers shown the door and in the short term implications of their negative votes in the House and Senate until a new Congress gets sworn in January 2027.In broader perspective Trump has had his way in re-districting, at least at the States level; but nationally perhaps blunted by the counter-gerrymandering efforts of the Democrats especially in large states like California.One perception is that the Republicans may have an advantage of about 10 seats in the House — if all votes head their way — but whether enough to get over the challenge of the Democrats is the question. Republican red states have also tried their hand at limiting mail-in voting, tightening voter ID laws, ridding the same day voter registration procedures, shortening early voting and curbing ballot box drops. And in the name of Election Integrity, there have been attempts to restrict supply of hot food in the vicinity of polling centres and even distribution of water to people standing in line to vote.China cardStill unsure if all these measures are enough to push the GOP over the line in the mid-terms, Trump pulled his ace election security card in his unprecedented national prime time address last week alleging China interfered with the 2020 elections and that intelligence documents that was subsequently thrown open for public scrutiny revealed “shocking vulnerabilities”.In his address Trump once again whipped up his long held claims of unreliability of American elections but falling well short of proving any of the votes were either altered or manipulated. Beijing rubbished allegations of its interference as “totally fabricated and a malicious smear” with a Foreign Ministry Spokesperson adding that Trump’s allegations “have long been proven to be sheer nonsense”.Trump has long dissed his own intelligence community and in the current context asserted that it deliberately suppressed the extent of Beijing’s activities. But what has been pointed out is that intelligence in 2021 had come to the conclusion that no foreign actor had attempted or succeeded in altering “any technical aspect” of the 2020 vote. And this assessment was done by John Ratcliffe, the then Director of National Intelligence and presently heading the Central Intelligence Agency. Further it is being pointed out that the data sourced by China is out there in public domain and available for purchase and done so routinely by political consultants. The bottom line: the excitement of Beijing accessing some 220 million voter files amounted to nothing other than perhaps for academic curiosity.Trump’s hardcore base may be jubilant at the so-called revelations, but not the sober minded Republicans who are apprehensive of a drift back to the debunked notions of the 2020 vote instead of paying attention to the issues facing America today — high prices, affordable housing and ways to end a war that a few know why it even began.The writer is a senior journalist who has reported from Washington DC on North America and United NationsPublished on July 22, 2026
