In a stunning repudiation of Donald Trump and the Republican Party he remade in his image, US voters have chosen alternative candidates across the country in midterm elections.
The Democrats have comfortably won control of the Senate, which was considered unlikely a week ago, and have won at least 254 seats in the House of Representatives, with only 218 needed for control and many races yet to be called.
Immense amounts of private money, largely directed to fear and misinformation media campaigns, including almost half a billion dollars from Elon Musk, failed to stop voters supporting progressive candidates, even in traditional Republican strongholds such as Texas, Ohio and Mississippi.
Although just under half the eligible voters in the country turned out, this is a massive number by American standards, and included more young, brown and black people than ever, defying attempts to rig the vote or intimidate those who were attracted by policy platforms focused on corruption, inequity, health and the cost of living.
Donald Trump is still the president, and it’s yet to be seen if the midterms will halt the USA’s slide into tyranny, but the tide is now clearly against war in the Middle East and on local immigrants, the rule of the billionaires and the madness and graft of the Trump era. So what does it mean for us?
AUKUS
One thing that was almost entirely lost in the media maelstrom following the US midterms was the result of the independent inquiry into AUKUS, announced in Canberra last week, which was highly critical of this multi-billion dollar venture launched by Scott Morrison and enthusiastically pursued by Labor since, though the government found time to immediately reject its findings.
The wide-ranging inquiry into AUKUS, which has been described as ‘the worst, riskiest and most costly defence decision ever made by an Australian government’, was led by Peter Garrett and former chief of the Australian Defence Force Admiral Chris Barrie.
No one in the incoming US Congress has announced plans to cancel or suspend AUKUS, but it’s quite likely that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth will now be impeached, potentially throwing future American defence/war strategy into even greater confusion.
Our own Richard Marles, who has been photographed grinning with the idiotic, murderous Hegseth at every opportunity, obediently commented as acting PM last week, ‘We stand ready to work with the United States and whoever is governing it.’
A Democratic congress will be able to hold hearings on costs and timelines as the AUKUS program (which includes an expansion of the US military industrial complex in Australia, not just submarines) inevitably slides over budget.
On trade, Democrats will now gain leverage over Trump’s tariffs through hearings, votes and spending fights, but he can still impose tariffs under existing laws, so a quick rollback is unlikely. Australian goods still face the extra 12.5 Section 301 duty in force since July, plus 10-50 per cent tariffs on things like steel, aluminium and copper.
Make Australia normal again?
One immediate local response to the US midterms came from One Nation, who have been frantically scrubbing pages praising Donald Trump from their website.
Trump’s mate Gina Rinehart has also been outed from the inside this week, by former One Nation campaign director Sean Black, as the chief architect of all the party’s policies, as well as the major source of its finances, apart from the Australian taxpayer.
Globally, Trump style politics is firmly in retreat following elections in Serbia, Brazil, Israel and now the United States itself. Even the right wing National party in New Zealand was unable to win on the weekend, with a three way tussle expected to take weeks to resolve.
As the chaos behind One Nation’s facade comes more clearly into focus, the Nationals’ Matt Canavan has announced he will leave the Senate and attempt to win election to the lower house, in the Queensland seat of Capricornia. If he loses, the Nationals will have lost a senator and a leader.
Keep an eye on whether Barnaby Joyce shows similar courage to stand under his new One Nation colours in the lower house. That will show whether the much-touted orange wave is likely to be a tsunami or a ripple.
Originally from Canberra, David Lowe is an award-winning filmmaker, writer and photographer with particular interests in the environment and politics. He’s known for his campaigning work with Cloudcatcher Media.
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