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Letters | Why Donald Trump is far from finished: just look at the US midterm results

  • The brash, non-politician president remains popular because he has taken on the international status quo and fought for American workers

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President Donald Trump waves to supporters after being introduced during a campaign rally on November 5 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Photo: AP
Your correspondent, John Lam, talks about how Donald Trump faces a fading presidency after the midterm elections (“Trump faces even worse than midterm setback, if he keeps picking on US allies”, November 8).
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In fact, it was the opposite that had happened. Normally, the ruling party often loses House seats by sizeable margins in midterm elections. This time, the Republican Party only lost around half of the seats the Democrats lost in 2010. In the Senate, three Democratic incumbents lost and the Republican majority is likely to widen after the Florida recount, one of the few times that the ruling party has won Senate seats in the off-year election.

Although President Trump’s power will be checked by Congress for the next two years, it does not mean that most voters disapprove of Trump’s accomplishments. Instead, the results show a potential victory in 2020, as his base is strengthened.

As an amateur politician, Trump has beaten the odds since his 2016 election. While sometimes his remarks may not be appropriate, I certainly applaud his efforts to challenge the monopoly of the political establishment and the political correctness that the left used to hijack discussions. It may not seem wise for him to displease allies on trade, but Trump has successfully restored new order in multilateral relations, while at the same time negotiating favourable deals for American workers. Well, naturally. It is an obligation for a leader to serve his people first.

President Trump belongs to a generation of doers, not whiners. He has tried his best to honour his electoral promises and achieved a lot that no other US president did, including the historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
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