Donald Trump was humiliated this week after Americans resoundingly rejected the Republican Party in the US midterm elections.
The US president was not actually on the ballot paper this time around as the electorate were choosing who they want in the House of Representatives and in the Senate.
But Trump told voters to pretend that he was on the ballot paper – making it even more humiliating when the Democrats secured a comfortable majority across both chambers of Congress.
Voters were furious over the rising cost of fuel, triggered by the president’s decision to join Israel in attacking Iran at the end of February.
Tehran retaliated by effectively blockading the Strait of Hormuz, a major shipping lane which supplied a fifth of the world’s oil and gas shipments before the war began.
That led to a spike in oil prices and soaring prices in America and around the world.
The US and Iran are now locked in a state of conflict which seems unlikely to end any time soon.
Inflation has also increased from 3% in 2025, when Trump returned to office, to 3.7%, despite his pre-election promises to bring prices down.
That is also partly down to Trump’s decision to impose tariffs – import taxes – on goods from other countries, which are then passed on to consumers in higher prices.
It’s all a far cry from the Republican’s 2024 promise to cut inflation and not to take America into more “foreign wars”.
Once the Democrats officially take control of Congress in January, they are expected to immediately try and curtail Trump’s executive power.
They could launch investigations into his presidency amid accusations of corruption and try to re-direct his foreign policy.
Trump is expected to quickly become a “lame duck”, meaning he may struggle to get any legislation passed, even if he tries to use his presidential veto to block Democrat-backed laws.
But the president will not be completely powerless and he may look overseas to show off his remaining strength – meaning further interventions in the Ukraine-Russia war along with ongoing conflict with Iran.
US allies will be bracing themselves for how Trump might react in the coming months after this devastating loss. Will he cause further chaos on the world stage in retaliation?
Andy Burnham said the result of the midterms was an opportunity to redouble efforts to end the wars in Iran and Ukraine.
He said: “I feel the world has an opportunity now to unite around the issue that is affecting us all and that’s the cost of living. That has been the issue that I have put front and centre in my first three months in Downing Street and we’ve made moves.
“But I can’t get people’s cost of living pressures down until the conflict in the Middle East is resolved [and] the conflict in Ukraine started by Russia. These are the things we have to focus on now.”
Meanwhile, the race to succeed Trump as president will also now step up a gear, with senior Republicans and Democrats fighting to secure their party’s nomination.
Will the Republicans make a clean break from the Trump era? And will the Democrats be able to capitalise on their midterms success by taking the White House too?
Listen to this week’s Commons People as we dissect the midterm results, along with insights from HuffPost’s US team and exclusive reaction from Trump’s former press secretary, Anthony Scaramucci.
Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.
