President Donald Trump told voters to pretend he was on the ballot in this year’s midterm elections.
asserted
he → tell → elections
They did.
asserted
They → do → ?
And they resoundingly rejected both his policies and his Republican Party.
asserted
they → reject → policies
Democrats have captured full control of Congress, NBC News projects, with voters delivering a forceful repudiation of Trump’s agenda, coupled with a clear-cut message that Congress has not done enough to provide checks on his administration and needs to do more to address affordability and corruption.
asserted
Congress → capture → affordability
Democrats’ victory in the Senate comes after a swift and decisive win in the House, where Democrats are set to have what could be its largest majority in nearly two decades.
uncertain
what → come → decades
Democrats flipped five Republican-held seats in Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas — a state they’ve long dreamed of turning blue.
asserted
they → flip → Iowa
In a number of those states, Trump hand-picked the nominees, sometimes over the objections of members of his own party who were concerned that they would be weak in the general election.
asserted
they → pick → election
Forty-three percent of midterm voters surveyed in the NBC News Exit Poll said one of the reasons they voted the way they did was to express opposition to Trump, whose job approval rating is lower than that of any president on Election Day in nearly two decades.
asserted
rating → survey → decades
Seventy-one percent of voters — including 41% of Republicans — also said there is not enough congressional oversight of Trump.
asserted
percent → include → Trump
The results were so bleak that Trump quickly ran away from them on Tuesday evening.
asserted
Trump → run → evening
In a social media post, Trump said that, in fact, he was not on the ballot, and that’s why Republicans lost:
asserted
Republicans → say → ballot
“I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!”
asserted
we → win → LANDSLIDE
The Democratic takeover will reverberate widely.
asserted
takeover → reverberate → ?
With majorities in both chambers, the Trump administration will now have to contend with checks and investigations it avoided with a compliant Congress in Republican hands.
asserted
it → have → hands
The election results could potentially influence the makeup of the Supreme Court, the arc of the 2028 presidential race and the fate of Trump’s legislative plans in the back half of his term.
uncertain
results → influence → term
But it also sets up an epic showdown with Trump that will test the constitutional power-sharing arrangement that has weathered war and civil strife over the past two centuries — but survived intact.
asserted
that → set → centuries
With their newly minted majority, Democratic lawmakers will acquire an arsenal of oversight powers they’ll use to investigate a Trump administration they contend has escaped accountability.
asserted
they → mint → accountability
Trump, in turn, has built a presidency rooted in a vision of unrivaled executive power.
asserted
Trump → build → power
Neither side seems in a mood to compromise, meaning the next two years could bring legislative and executive branch clashes unlike anything since the Watergate era.
“What we’re going to do is lower costs, end all this rampant corruption and end the chaos.
uncertain
going → seem → chaos
Plain and simple,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the Senate’s Democratic leader, said before the election in response to a question from NBC News about his priorities if his party won.
asserted
party → say → priorities
Democrats’ sweeping victory looked inconceivable when the midterm campaign season kicked off.
asserted
season → look → ?
The party prevailed despite an unfavorable map in which the major battlegrounds ran through red states that Trump won in all three of his presidential bids.
asserted
Trump → prevail → bids
Not since 2006 has the minority party flipped control of both chambers on a single night.
asserted
party → flip → night
Then-President George W. Bush, facing a voter backlash over the Iraq War, memorably lamented that the outcome was “a thumping.”
asserted
outcome → face → War
Trump sought to mobilize his core voters and preserve the GOP’s narrow majority in the House and the Senate by putting himself front and center.
asserted
Trump → seek → himself
He kept up a packed campaign schedule in the final month of the campaign, but he and his party were dogged by his low job approval ratings along with pronounced voter frustration with the economy.
asserted
he → keep → economy
Trump sought to blame his predecessor, Joe Biden, for rising prices, but voters didn’t seem to buy the argument.
asserted
voters → seek → argument
Gas prices spiked after Trump and Israeli leaders launched the Iran war in late February, and Americans disliked the president’s handling of the conflict, creating another drag on Republican candidacies.
asserted
Americans → spike → candidacies
The election results are apt to make history, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., on the cusp of becoming the nation’s first Black speaker.
asserted
results → make → cusp
Democrats are expected to hold their internal leadership elections the week of Nov. 16, at which time Jeffries will become his party’s nominee for speaker.
asserted
Jeffries → expect → speaker
Then on Jan. 3, he must win 218 votes — a simple majority of all House members — to formally win the speaker’s gavel and become second in the line of presidential succession.
asserted
he → win → succession
Schumer, who previously served four years as Senate majority leader, is expected to return to that top job once again after exceeding expectations and leading his party back from exile.
asserted
who → serve → exile
Democrats had been favored to win the House all season; they needed to flip a net of just three GOP-held seats to do so and, historically, the president’s party loses dozens of seats on average during midterm elections.
asserted
party → favor → elections
But as the campaign unfolded, Democrats grew more bullish on winning the Senate, as well.
asserted
Democrats → unfold → Senate
Latino voters helped propel Trump’s political comeback in 2024, but turned away from him this cycle, citing high prices and his immigration crackdown
asserted
voters → propel → prices
An NBC News poll released Sunday showed that Democrats enjoyed a 27-point lead among Latino voters, a marked contrast from the 2024 election, when Trump only lost by 7 points in that demographic.
asserted
Trump → release → demographic
The outcome could also leave an imprint on the Supreme Court.
uncertain
outcome → leave → Court
Prior to the election, multiple Senate Democrats cast doubt on whether they would confirm any Trump nominee to a vacancy on the Supreme Court if one were to arise in his final two years.
asserted
one → cast → years
With full control of the Senate, Democrats are positioned to block nominees Trump puts forward.
asserted
Trump → position → nominees
“Well, given the history of Trump nominees, I think it is slim to none that we would support a nominee from this administration,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a member of the Judiciary Committee, told NBC News in an interview before the elections.
asserted
Blumenthal → give → elections
…and 20 more, not listed.
The Aporia
