To Be Fair: Trump's Thrashing. Democrats Take Control of Congress, in Texas Havel-like Love Won Over Money
The Republican Party under the leadership of Donald Trump suffered a historically crushing defeat in the just-concluded "midterms," that is, elections in the middle of the term of the president, who is the dominant figure in American politics. Although the final vote count will take a long time, no one expected such a significant result.
The Republican Party under the leadership of Donald Trump suffered a historically crushing defeat in the just-concluded "midterms," that is, elections in the middle of the term of the president, who is the dominant figure in local politics. Although the final counting of votes will take a long time yet, no one expected such a significant result.
The most interesting results came from Texas. It is a paradox that in the land of capitalism and the cult of money, it is precisely these values that were given a red light in the elections. One of the largest American states is best known to Czechs from the series Dallas about a family of oil magnates.
Democrats won the election with love over money from tech giants
"We just proved that all the money in the world cannot match the people of Texas. We just proved that the politics of division is no match for the politics of love,"
stated in euphoria the elected senator for the state of Texas, James Talarico, as recalled by ČT.
This man became the first senator for the Democratic Party since 1988. At that time, the final seasons of the series Dallas were still being filmed (ended in 1991), and the saga about oilmen with pockets full of dollars in cowboy hats still had its moment of glory ahead in the Czech Republic.
However, Talarico wasn't referring to the TV classic. He was much more concerned with the fact that a record 0.5 billion dollars was spent on the campaign before the recent midterms in the state, which is nearly 11 billion crowns. The official limit for a political party here is 90 million crowns, which is less than one hundredth. Yet Texas has only three times more people. Among them is also a large community of Czech emigrants.
It is also no secret that a substantial part of this money flowed in from technology giants led by Elon Musk. Thanks to them, the Republicans were able to invest substantially more in election marketing than their opponents. Nevertheless, they were served a humiliating defeat in their greatest stronghold for today's breakfast.
In addition to Talarico, who as a devout Christian often spoke about love in his campaign in a paraphrase of Václav Havel, an even more painful slap came with the fall of long-time governor Greg Abbott, who had been at the head of the state even before Donald Trump's arrival in politics (since 2015).
US politics will change, Donald Trump, burned by a crushing defeat, even admitted that he will cooperate with the Democratic majority. In a situation of trench warfare and prepared investigations of the Trump administration and the president himself, constructive cooperation is hard to imagine. However, Donald Trump says and does the opposite of what he declared the previous day every day, so anything is possible.
However, the president still holds the reins on fundamental issues, that's simply how it works in the USA. The change in the White House is approaching, though, and the question of how the current crushing victory of the Democrats will affect the key elections in two years hangs in the air.
Presidential elections hang in the air
It is precisely in Texas that we are witnessing a small electoral revolution in the conservative American system. There has been talk for a long time about the demographic transformation of the state, as people are massively moving to prosperous cities for work, and they are often college-educated Democratic voters.
For example, in Houston, congressmen won by a crushing result that exceeded 70%. If Texas were to turn blue in the presidential election as well, Republicans would have no way to compensate for the loss of the large number of electors from this state. So this will be decisive again, and the billion-dollar record crammed into the campaign will certainly be broken.
Everything depends on what candidates both parties enter the presidential election with. Both are in the grip of radical wings. Among Republicans, the ultra-conservative MAGA with religious fanatics dominates, and conversely, the progressive clique has confirmed great influence on the opposite wing among Democrats. However, neither is acceptable to the American moderate voter.
The story of James Talarico is not the only major victory in the ranks of Democrats, in the context of which talk of a presidential candidacy is beginning; whether the Republicans will also take stock after suffering a debacle is unclear. Donald Trump sees blame everywhere except in himself. While this is not surprising, the only certainty of the next presidential election is that the controversial occupant of the White House accused of a number of sexual offenses will no longer be there, even if he wanted to a hundred times over.
Sources: original text, commentary, ČT, Reuters, Forbes
