{"text":[[{"start":7.32,"text":"The blue wave that has swept over both houses of Congress is a remarkable victory for US Democrats. More importantly, it is a historic victory for American democracy. Since Donald Trump’s second inauguration in January last year, the checks and balances of US governance have been assaulted as never before by the authoritarian impulses of a president. The rebuke Americans delivered at the ballot box is a sign that the fundamental anchors of democracy have held firm. It offers a chance, if Democrats can seize it and Republicans start to see sense, to begin repairing America’s political system."}],[{"start":44.794,"text":"US presidents have suffered stinging midterm setbacks before, from George W Bush’s dual-chamber loss over the Iraq war in 2006 to Barack Obama’s “shellacking” in 2010. But the sweep of both houses, coupled with the depth of Democratic gains even in decades-long Republican bastions such as Texas and Kansas, is the most comprehensive repudiation of a sitting president since at least 1994."}],[{"start":70.76,"text":"Saving American democracy may not have been front of mind for most voters but they were certainly exercised about top-level corruption. Above all, this was an election defined by the cost of living. Trump had sworn to end America’s “forever wars” and lighten the burden on families. Instead, his tariffs and misbegotten war in Iran stoked prices of fuel and other goods, hitting working-class Americans hardest. Trump also pledged to drain the swamp, not commandeer it for his own profit. To an astounding degree, the president sowed the seeds of his own comeuppance."}],[{"start":104.957,"text":"US courts, which blocked Trump’s efforts to take control of mail-in ballots, played their part in ensuring Americans’ voices could be heard without restraint, as did public-spirited state officials of both parties who rebuffed demands to hand over unredacted state voter rolls. Republican efforts at gerrymandering appear to have backfired. The outcome was ultimately so unambiguous as to leave the president with little option but to claim he would accept it."}],[{"start":131.12,"text":"Two main risks still loom. One is that the Democrats are prevented by the veto powers of a vituperative president, or by their own strategic errors or infighting, from any achievement of note in the next two years — hampering their chances in the pivotal 2028 elections. Despite breakthroughs by progressive candidates, they should avoid drifting to the left."}],[{"start":153.52,"text":"For all the Democrats’ justifiable thirst for a presidential impeachment, moreover, Senate arithmetic still means a third attempt would almost certainly be doomed, and would risk re-energising the remnants of the Trump base. Better to focus on investigating and holding to account the profiteering of the Trump family and their associates. For their part, Republicans should recognise the harm the president has inflicted on their political brand and seek to distance themselves."}],[{"start":179.48,"text":"The other risk — for America, and the world — is that an “angry duck” president uses his control of foreign policy to vent his own frustrations. A rancorous and unrestrained Trump could do immense damage, by relaunching his Iran war or embarking on perilous new escapades elsewhere. An embittered US leader is unlikely to be any more amenable to America’s traditional allies in Canada, Europe or beyond."}],[{"start":204.22,"text":"America’s uplifting exercise in democracy is only the start of an effort to reverse the damage to US institutions. This will be the task of years. And while Americans have followed Hungarians and Serbs in rebuking crony authoritarianism, the global threat of nationalist populism is far from vanquished. It could soon make further inroads, notably in France. This is, however, a decisive moment in America’s political story: the beginning of the end of the age of Trump."}],[{"start":232.44,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1793839283_8032.mp3"}