Of all the themes of the US midterm elections, one seems to rise above the others again: Donald Trump’s grip on US politics is unrelenting, writes ‘s US correspondent Iida Tikka.
WASHINGTON. The most important theme of the US midterm elections this fall is hard work. Abortion rights, inflation, immigration, climate change and Joe Biden sweeping support are all significant issues when Americans go to the polls in November.
Still, one stands above the rest: the former president Donald Trump still dominates the direction of politics. It was seen again in Wyoming as the results of the Republican primary began to come in.
A Republican representative profiled as a vocal critic of Trump Liz Cheney lost his state’s primary to a Trump supporter To Harriet Hageman.
Cheney’s defeat has been expected. He is one of the leading figures on the committee investigating last year’s coup attempt and one of 10 House Republicans who voted for Trump’s second impeachment.
Four of these ten representatives are withdrawing from politics, and in addition to Cheney, three others have lost their own internal party primaries. Two advance to the next round of the election, most likely because the parties in their states have a joint primary, where the top two candidates advance to the next round regardless of party.
In primaries around the country, Trump’s support has swept the candidates to victory, opposition has made it difficult for him to become a midterm candidate.
Last week’s Mar-a-Lago home search further emphasizing Trump’s role at the ballot box.
The extraordinary house search makes Trump a political martyr in the eyes of his supporters. The FBI searched Mar-a-Lago for documents classified as secret and top secret, but what was found and what was not found will not be clear very quickly. Bringing possible charges will take a long time and possibly have an impact even during the next election. The US judicial system cannot keep up with a busy election cycle.
At the same time, Biden will once again be overshadowed by Trump. The FBI’s investigation has taken attention away from the climate package signed into law by the president yesterday. It is a big political victory, which, however, cannot interest the people alongside the search for a home. So even his own voters do not necessarily know that Biden finally managed to implement a hacked version of his election promise. It would be important to Biden, because the president’s support is falling badly. (you switch to another service)
The Republican party leadership stands still firmly behind Trump, and the party will shape itself even more firmly into Trump’s party in the upcoming elections.
Politicians like Liz Cheney will be eliminated, but not for good. According to Cheney’s team, the election defeat is just the beginning – he is not going to give up. Speculation about Cheney’s possible presidential bid began immediately.
The presidential election is still a long time away. And as last week showed, anything can happen.