U.S. President Donald Trump understands that the House of Representatives will be a hostile arena but he also knows that by increasing their power in the Senate, Republicans will take the sting out of any Democratic opposition. The bottom line from Trump's standpoint: Another loss like this and we've won.
Trump found it hard to conceal the satisfaction he felt at the White House press conference, Wednesday. While the Republicans lost their majority in the House of Representatives for the first time in eight years, the midterms ultimately ended with nothing more than a thud. How many times did they hit Trump during his presidential election campaign, and how many times did he come back without having sustained any real damage in the eyes of the voters and public opinion?
As is his habit, Trump held a press conference, but this time he opted for a blue tie, the color of the Democratic Party, instead of his go-to red, and presented the Republicans' loss as a victory.
His first decision in the post-election era, which he made immediately following the press conference in order to regain control of the public discourse, was to dismiss Jeff Sessions, a man he detests, from the office of attorney general.
Trump is aware that from now on, the House of Representatives is hostile territory. It will be difficult to pass laws with the Democrats in control of one of the houses of Congress. And lest we forget, it is also highly likely that senior House officials will want to make a name for themselves by initiating yet another Russia investigation.
They will likely summon and harass various officials, and they will also ask Trump to release his tax returns. But in the end, a Democratic House of Representatives cannot change a thing without the help of the president and the Senate.
In these midterm elections, the news that has received the least coverage is the Democratic Party's incredible defeat: Outside of a few specific places where Republicans never stood a chance to begin with, the candidates who wanted socialism, high taxes and "anyone but Trump" simply didn't win.
Even Democratic stars like Beto O'Rourke, who ran for the Senate in Texas, and Andrew Gillum, who ran for governor of Florida, and tried to be both socialist and moderate at the same time, ended up confusing voters and lost. Despite his comparative lack of charisma, Ted Cruz, the Republican senator from Texas, defeated O'Rourke at the polls, as did many other Republican candidates like him across the United States. They won because the Democrats insisted on talking over Americans' heads and offered nothing new that could rival Trump's authenticity or a strong U.S. economy.
Major battles ahead
The Democrats are not unified, and now Trump can watch from the sidelines as they quarrel among themselves. The progressives, who want to use their power to destroy everything Trump represents, will fight the moderates, who will want to cooperate and serve their citizens. And let us not forget the battle of the egos we are set to witness between the likely returning House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the rest of the House Democrats.
Ultimately, though, the Democrats will probably want to make a deal. That deal might entail an upgrade to Obamacare in return for funding for the wall on the U.S. border with Mexico, for example, or tax cuts in return for investing funds to absorb refugees within the framework of comprehensive immigration reform. There are many more examples, but first, the Democrats have to decide who they are and what direction they are headed.
If they choose to barricade themselves in political righteousness, Trump will continue to control the Senate, the most important body in Congress. The Senate appoints Supreme Court judges and approves other senior appointments and treaties. Trump's legacy is dependent on the Senate and the president's executive power, not the 225 Democrats in the House of Representatives.
Trump has increased his power in the Senate, despite the fact that mainstream media had united against him from the day he won the elections; the same media, by the way, that promised us a "blue wave" in the middle of his presidency. The midterms were to have seen the Republicans suffer a crushing defeat, we were told. The media, lest we forget, also assured us that Trump had no chance of winning the 2016 presidential election.
But losing the House of Representatives could even prove beneficial to Trump when he runs for re-election in 2020. If the Democrats fail to realize this, they will be seen by the public as petty politicians who do not have the nation's best interests at heart. If that is the case, they will pay for their mistake at the ballot box and Trump will win a second term in office.
It seems the optimal scenario right now is also the most likely. Both Trump and the Democrats want to invest in American infrastructure on a grand scale. Clearly, there will be battles here and there, but the Democrats will ultimately realize that they must cooperate to effect change.
A prophecy unfulfilled
There is also a Jewish side to this week's election story. Pini Dagan, the deputy head of the Riviera Parliament, an organization founded in Miami in 2005 by Israeli expats, accompanied me in Miami this week. He was shocked that Jews in Florida had voted for Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum for state governor. Dagan couldn't understand why they didn't support Gillum's Republican opponent, Ron DeSantis, a former Florida congressman and staunch Israel supporter.
When push came to shove, a slim majority of Floridians voted for DeSantis. This was a victory for American values as well as for Israel, which will benefit from a pro-Israel Florida. For some reason, though, American Jews chose to be on the side of the liberals, in the name of "tikkun olam" (repairing the world). It seems they forgot that the man currently in the Oval Office is the most pro-Israel president the U.S. has ever had.
There is no doubt the midterms proved just how tense the situation is in America right now, some would even go so far as to say it is divided. While it is, of course, entirely legitimate to be either a Republican or a Democrat, the Democrats have portrayed the Republicans in an incredibly negative light, and all because of Trump's personality and image. Allow me to remind you: They called him a joke and a clown who had no chance of winning the Republican primaries After that, they said he had no chance of winning the presidential elections. And when he was elected, they claimed he wouldn't make it as president. Later still, they said he wouldn't accomplish anything of significance, and just recently, they promised us that there would be a reckoning in the midterms.
None of these bleak prophesies have yet to come true, but that won't stop the media from attacking Trump. I saw this week just how many Americans admire Trump. I also saw just how many Democrats do not support him or the conduct of the American media, which slanders America and its values for political ends. Most of all, though, I saw Americans who had simply quit mainstream media.
Paul Cruz, the Jewish owner of a famous deli in a swanky Miami suburb, may have put it best when he said: "I don't like Trump, but I like what he is doing." And that is something the Democrats and the American media are simply unable to wrap their heads around. The president is succeeding and winning, and more than anything, popular with the people.
In an opinion piece that appeared in The Washington Post earlier this week, Ed Rogers wrote, "Trump and his allies have an appeal that the elites in New York and Hollywood cannot dismiss or combat. All of the 2018 Democratic heartthrobs lost. That must sap the enthusiasm of the resistance. For the most part, when voters had to decide, the angry left was rejected and Trump was rewarded."
Rogers said that if there was anything we could draw from the elections, it was that while the voters had the opportunity to denounce Trump, they chose to denounce the Democrats. As Rogers headline so succinctly stated: "Democrats won the House, but Trump won the election." That sentence defines Trump, who is always looking toward the bottom line, to a "T." It is also a lesson in what we should expect from Trump in the next two years: Trump won't hesitate to fight but he also won't hesitate to reach out an olive branch if he feels a deal may be possible. Just ask North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
