President Donald Trump and the Republican Party were hit by a “Blue Tsunami” in Tuesday’s midterms, looking on in horror as the GOP’s majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate were washed away on a wave of public anger.
asserted
majorities → hit → anger
As of Wednesday morning, the opposition Democrats had picked up 25 additional seats in the House and seven in the Senate, taking them well clear of the 218 and 51 seats they needed to claim the upper hand in the twin chambers of Congress.
uncertain
they → pick → Congress
The results leave an uncharacteristically downtrodden Trump conceding defeat, lashing out at his own candidates and media allies and already looking ahead to the prospect of a Democrat-run legislative making life difficult for him in the final two years of his second term.
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life → leave → term
The newly emboldened Democrats are likely to interpret the outcome as a mandate from an unhappy electorate to go after the Trump administration.
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Democrats → embolden → administration
They are expected to wield the powers of the congressional committees to launch probes into the president and his inner circle.
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They → expect → president
Trump is already the first American president to be impeached twice, so whether the Democrats will seek to do so again is a natural question.
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seek → impeach → ?
The Republican was first impeached by the Nancy Pelosi-led House in 2019, after a whistleblower reported him for threatening to withhold $400 million in congressionally-approved military aid to Ukraine on an official call with that country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, unless the latter opened an investigation into Joe Biden’s son Hunter’s business dealings in Kyiv.
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latter → impeach → Kyiv
Trump went on to be acquitted in the Senate, a scenario that was repeated when he was impeached for an unprecedented second time after his supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
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supporters → go → January
Republicans like Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz have both said they fully expect the Democrats to try for a third impeachment.
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Democrats → say → impeachment
The betting markets Kalshi and Polymarket are offering odds of 77.2 percent and 80 percent respectively as of Wednesday morning.
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markets → offer → morning
New Yorker Hakeem Jeffries, who is about to become the first Black speaker of the House, was asked about the prospect by ABC News in September and said only: “We haven’t ruled anything in, and we haven't ruled anything out.”
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we → become → anything
Speaking to The New Yorker’s Political Scene podcast earlier this week, influential Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin was equally cagey, telling host David Remnick impeachment was just one of many “tools” his side might choose to use on the Trump administration.
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side → speak → administration
New-minted Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who just beat Trump favorite Jon Husted, also expressed disapproval during his campaign, saying: “I can’t speak for everybody else but I would not support an impeachment of Trump.
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I → mint → Trump
There’s just simply no reason for that, no matter what happens in the midterms.
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what → ’ → midterms
The difficulty of securing a conviction in the Senate – which requires a two-thirds majority to remove a president on grounds of treason, bribery or, more vaguely, “high crimes and misdemeanors” – might well dissuade the Democrats from having another go, even with their enhanced majority, which will see the likes of James Talarico, Abdul El-Sayed and Josh Turek joining the ranks come January.
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likes → secure → ranks
There is also a feeling that impeaching Trump allows him to push a victimization narrative and declare a “witch hunt”.
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him → be → hunt
this could ultimately only serve to rally his base around him at a time when it appears to be at its most fractured for a decade, judging by Tuesday’s outcome.
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it → serve → outcome
“Impeaching Trump is a bad idea,” Matt Bennett, co-founder of Third Way, a centrist Democratic think-tank, told The Times.
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Bennett → impeach → Times
“I want to be clear that we believe that Trump commits five impeachable offences before breakfast every morning.
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Trump → want → breakfast
“This is a question of political reality, and the reality is there’s literally zero chance that he will be removed from office unless he does something even more egregious.”
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he → ’ → something
Nevertheless, California Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, leader of the House Oversight Committee, responded to the midterms triumph with a two-word tweet, “LAWYER UP,” - making his intentions plain.
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intentions → respond → tweet
This might be through other means than impeachment, however, with Democrats likely to take an interest in accusations of corruption and personal enrichment leveled against the president.
uncertain
Democrats → take → president
Targeting him at one-remove by impeaching one of his top Cabinet secretaries might also prove a more fruitful avenue, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, for instance, already the subject of articles of impeachment filed by outgoing Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie – and a direct threat from Jeffries.
uncertain
Hegseth → target → Jeffries
“One of the first things we’re going to do in the majority, we’re going to run Pete Hegseth out of town,” the new speaker said on the campaign trail in Pennsylvania recently.
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speaker → go → Pennsylvania
The Aporia
