EDITORIAL – There’s something to cheer about in U.S. mid-term election results

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL THING, watching Donald Trump’s party get thumped last night (Nov. 3, 2026). He deserved it.

Today, of course, Trump is trying to distance himself from the shellacking the Republicans took in the mid-terms. In the lead-up, he urged Republicans to pretend he was on the ballot, and to vote accordingly.

Apparently they did, and the results showed. But now he insists that if he’d actually been on the ballot, the party would have won in a landslide.

And he says he’ll try to get along with the Democrats, complimenting them on their campaign.

All of that is an effort to point the finger anywhere but at himself. You’d think he had nothing at all to do with the campaign and with the result. It was the candidates’ fault, not his.

At any rate, the Democrats now control (or will, when it takes effect in January) both the House and the Senate. Though he signals a willingness to work with them, Trump at the same time warns he’ll use his veto against any bill he doesn’t like.

So what’s this mean for Canada? Opinions on that differ. There’s hope Trump will be motivated to soften his tariffs under pressure from the Democrats. Others fear an angry Trump will double down and even ramp things up. Hopefully it’s the former.

But the exact effect on U.S. and Canadian politics remains to be seen. In the short term, at least, it feels darn good to see that man get a come-uppance. Maybe there’s hope for America after all.

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, writes for the Kamloops Chronicle and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and was a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.