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Just Saying | Midterm, schmidterm – Trump is sure to win a second term now

  • Yonden Lhatoo can’t help feeling impressed by the one-man political juggernaut that is the US president, arguing that he is well on his way to re-election in 2020, and the midterm election setback is no big deal

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Donald Trump delivers remarks at a Make America Great Again rally in Indiana. Photo: AFP
Christmas hasn’t arrived yet, but all those people out there who despise US President Donald Trump – and they are legion – are already decking their halls with boughs of holly to celebrate after his Republican cronies and enablers lost the House of Representatives to the Democrats in the recently concluded midterm elections.

But while the president’s detractors are singing “fa-la-la-la-la”, they may be well-advised to pause mid-pirouette and reflect on the reality that his days in the White House are far from numbered as a result, never mind the breathless euphoria in the liberal media over “the beginning of the end for Trump”. It’s all wishful thinking, of course.

Even if Trump himself was not on the ballot, this was indubitably a referendum on his leadership, and he wasn’t far off the mark in claiming “close to a complete victory” – the president was the biggest winner in terms of his 2020 re-election campaign.

The much-vaunted ‘blue wave’ of Democrats was little more than a ripple. Photo: Reuters
The much-vaunted ‘blue wave’ of Democrats was little more than a ripple. Photo: Reuters

And that campaign is effectively in full swing already. Midterm, schmidterm – Trump has moved on, his eyes firmly fixed on a second term in the most powerful office on the planet, while the opposition is still busy with more pressing matters like post-election back patting.

The much-vaunted “blue wave” of Democrats turned out to be more of a weak ripple, and they barely managed to take control of the House, making modest advances in capturing seats rather than votes. That doesn’t bode well for them in 2020.
Yonden Lhatoo is Managing Editor, Content at the South China Morning Post. He was a TV news anchor and editor for nearly two decades before he joined the Post as a senior editor in 2015. He began his journalism career as a newspaper reporter covering Hong Kong's transition from British colonial rule to Chinese sovereignty, and is now a veteran newshand who specialises in Hong Kong and Greater China affairs. Apart from his editorial duties, which cover news content and quality control at the Post, he regularly moderates forums and seminars on current affairs. He has publicly written, spoken and taught about local, regional and global issues for decades, but is still trying to figure it all out.
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