The mid-term elections in the United States of America (USA) have raised several important questions regarding the influence of the Democrats and Republicans in the Congress and Senate. Trump’s narrative and his brand of politics has suffered a serious setback, but all is not lost for him.
The Republicans still have the majority in the Senate, and this time around President Trump has even more support because those who were moderate and critical of Trump, are either retiring or have just not made it to the finale. This shows that the Republican Party still has a stronghold in its supporters after two years in service. The Democrats have still not managed to appease the white collar population and majority of the swinging constituencies have voted for Trump.
The hope in this scenario is the Democrats outnumbering the Republicans in the Congress. This is a major victory for the Democrats and this allows them the number to veto the bills and laws proposed by President Trump in the House. This victory also means that the Democrats will now have a control over several committees of the House, which means that they can launch investigation into the workings of the Trump administration. This will allow them the space for opposition, which till now has been lacking in the government and promoting the self-destructive foreign policy that the Trump administration has been pursuing.
The real question is how much influence can the lower House garner to control the bills and laws being proposed? President Trump and his aide decided to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, despite the human rights violations committed by the country. At the same time, the country is actively pursuing a policy of backtracking on the deal with Iran and introducing sanctions. Their involvement to end the war in Afghanistan also came about after denying Pakistan’s role in curtailing the war and losing over 70,000 lives in the process. With the active persuasion of policies like these, the influence of the lower House is of the utmost importance, and one that will define the course of diplomatic ties with the global political regime.
Nancy Pelosi, the woman expected to become the new Democrat Speaker of the House, said in a celebratory speech that we’ve all had enough of division. There is a chance that the representation in the lower House will give the Democrats the opportunity to open up an investigation against President Trump’s tax records and ties to Russia to try and get him out of the office.
Source:Â https://nation.com.pk/08-Nov-2018/us-mid-term-elections
