THE full result of the midterm elections in the United States were not yet in when I wrote this but initial reports show that the Democrats have captured the majority in the House of Representatives “for the first time in eight years,” according to CNN analyst Stephen Collinson, thus breaking Republican “monopoly of power in Washington.”
US President Donald Trump must see this, though, in the context of the “you win some, you lose some” proposition. Because while they lost the House, the Republicans solidified their majority in the Senate. This means that while the House can now check the excesses of the Trump presidency and can even initiate impeachment proceedings, it could not hope to evict him from office.
It was an interesting campaign with former president Barack Obama rallying the Democrats and Trump leading the charge of the Republicans. There are those who consider the midterm elections as a test for the Trump presidency and the effectiveness of the issues that have been hounding it. The results tended to show that Trump’s hold on power has weakened.
This early, the Democrats have promised “constraints” on Trump’s power and have even threatened to go after his tax returns. “He’s going to learn that he’s not above the law,” said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, who is expected to chair the House judiciary committee.
This is an interesting development although this shows that Trump, despite the controversies and the toxic rhetoric, still has the support of a good number of American voters. Trump is down but not out.
I am one of those who believe that the same political winds blow throughout the globe, which means that the same political wind is blowing in the Philippines. President Duterte has retained his popularity especially among his core supporters but overall the number of his supporters has dwindled.
The electoral situation in the Philippines is different, of course. Considering our political setup, there is no way that the opposition could wrest control of the House of Representatives from the current “supermajority” there. I don’t even think the Liberal Party (LP), the former House majority, has enough candidates to increase its influence in the lower chamber.
I thought the opposition has good chances in the senatorial race even if it could only field eight candidates (four short of the 12 open seats). But what is happening in the senatorial race in the US could be a bad omen for the opposition in the senatorial polls here. My hope now is that at least majority of the eight bets fielded by the opposition would win.
The past three years have been tumultuous for the country. While there are signs that the tumult is about to ease, I hope this would be fast-tracked by the May 2019 midterm elections. In the US, the midterm elections were considered a referendum on Trump’s rule. Will the 2019 elections also be a referendum on the Duterte presidency?
Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi, in a speech as reports on the results of the US midterm elections were coming in, said that “tomorrow will be a new day for America.” Can we say that after our own midterm elections next year?