Is the US blue wave a turning point for Europe, too?

AI Summary

The article considers whether Democratic gains in the US midterms could help Europe, where far-right populists remain influential and governments worry about renewed US pressure. It notes that the result offers encouragement for democratic opposition but does not prevent a president from pursuing trade disputes or foreign-policy actions affecting Europe.

Far-right populists remain insurgent and pro-EU governments are braced for Trump’s betrayal. But the midterms also showed that democracy can fight back • Don’t get This Is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up here “Is Maga dead?” asked Margaret, a Guardian reader in Switzerland, in a live Q&A with our correspondents after the seismic US midterm elections. If Margaret’s query expressed a hope that the Democrats’ blue wave could transform Europe’s fortunes after two years of Maga-induced trauma, she was probably not alone. The resounding defeat for Donald Trump’s Republicans and the installation of a Democratic-controlled US Congress has been met with understandable relief in European capitals. In the short term however, the worst for Europe is not over. Trump didn’t need congressional approval, after all, to unleash a trade war on his supposed European allies, threaten to invade Greenland, try to stitch up Ukraine or go to war with Iran, an act that has inflated fuel and food prices disastrously. Continue reading...