Midterm defeat deals death blow to Trump coalition

Commentators argued that the Democratic rout spells the end of US President Donald Trump’s political movement. A historic Democratic rout sounded the death knell for the Trump coalition, commentators argued. Republicans’ midterm wipeout on Tuesday marks the end of a nationalist movement based on “ projecting invulnerability and ruthlessness,” Politico wrote, to which “so many executives and diplomats and generals and prime ministers chose to submit.” Still, the results don’t guarantee years of Democratic dominance: Swing voters are “ leasing one-year terms,” journalist Derek Thompson wrote, making Tuesday less a realignment than a “historic collapse.” President Donald Trump’s once-successful strategy of turning out his base “with money from people who didn’t understand that base” didn’t work this time, Semafor’s David Weigel argued: “Democrats made a bet that gravity was real, and Trump couldn’t defy it anymore.”