Americans deliver stunning rebuke to Donald Trump as blue wave sweeps country

{"text":[[{"start":10.9,"text":"Americans have delivered a crushing rebuke to Donald Trump, sweeping his Republican Party from power in Congress after an election dominated by anger over the economy and the spiralling cost of living."}],[{"start":22.46,"text":"The Associated Press projected that Democrats would win a majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate, ending Republican control of both chambers and bringing a new era of divided government to Washington."}],[{"start":35.52,"text":"The heavy defeat for the president saw his Republican Party lose Senate seats from South and North Carolina to Iowa and Texas, where James Talarico beat Ken Paxton to become the state’s first Democrat since the late 1980s to be elected to the upper chamber."}],[{"start":51.8,"text":"“The Democrats did a good job. They fought hard,” Trump told Fox News in an interview after the result became apparent. “I don’t like to consider it a defeat for me. I wasn’t on the ballot.”"}],[{"start":62.6,"text":"Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House leader who is expected to be the chamber’s first Black speaker when the new Congress is seated in January, claimed his party’s victory was a win for the country."}],[{"start":73.68,"text":"“This is not a partisan moment. This is a patriotic one,” Jeffries said in a speech on Tuesday as the results came in. He said Democrats would “bring accountability to those who have visited unprecedented corruption on this country”."}],[{"start":87.4,"text":"In a measure of voter discontent with Trump’s first two years, Democrats made inroads deep into Republican regions including the Midwest where Kansas elected its first Democratic senator since 1932, as farmers and ranchers lashed out at high fuel costs and the president’s trade wars."}],[{"start":105.2,"text":"In Michigan, progressive Abdul El-Sayed defied a well-funded campaign and opposition from fellow Democrats to become the country’s first Muslim elected to the upper chamber of Congress."}],[{"start":116.32,"text":"Command of Congress will allow Democrats to halt any legislation proposed by Trump in his final two years in office and set the stage for sweeping investigations of his administration and even family members."}],[{"start":128,"text":"Trump told Fox he would block any “insane” legislation proposed by the new Democratic Congress but said “we will figure out how to get things done”."}],[{"start":137.72,"text":"“I have the power of veto. The power is impervious.”"}],[{"start":140.6,"text":"The result marks a sudden break after two turbulent years in US politics, which included Trump’s tariff wars on trading partners, his conflict in the Middle East, a crackdown on immigration, attacks on institutions and threats to Nato allies such as Canada and Greenland."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":156.28,"text":"The results laid bare Americans’ mounting frustration at an affordability crisis, tariffs and the AI boom. On Tuesday, government data showed petrol prices under Trump hit an average higher than under any other president."}],[{"start":169.8,"text":"Heavy campaigning by Trump across the country in the last six weeks before the elections failed to stop the rout — and may have stoked it further. The winning political coalition he pulled together for the 2024 presidential race — when he made gains with young, Hispanic and Black voters — appeared to collapse."}],[{"start":186.88,"text":"Democrats also notched wins in gubernatorial races, including in Georgia where voters elected the US’s first Black female governor, Keisha Lance Bottoms. In Texas, Greg Abbott lost his race to Gina Hinojosa — a stunning defeat for a man backed by Silicon Valley and other business interests for his light-touch regulation in the state."}],[{"start":207.08,"text":"Democrats’ congressional and gubernatorial victories will also have wide-ranging implications for the rush to build AI infrastructure, with many investors betting the party will tighten regulation of the sector."}],[{"start":219.029,"text":"US stock futures edged higher on Wednesday, rebounding from initial declines that were sparked by fears the Democrats’ resounding victory posed a significant threat to the AI boom."}],[{"start":229.2,"text":"But investors said they were also reassured that the clear result had averted a “worst-case scenario” in which Trump challenged the legitimacy of the results."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":238.04,"text":"The result is also a personal rebuke for Trump, who asked voters to imagine that he was on the ballot, predicting at the weekend that his party would beat rivals he labelled “jihadists” and “communists”."}],[{"start":249.24,"text":"But in race after race, candidates endorsed by the president crumpled in the face of the “Blue-nami” Democratic wave. His defeated handpicked candidates included Darline Graham in South Carolina, who surrendered her late brother Lindsey Graham’s Senate seat to Democrat Annie Andrews."}],[{"start":265.2,"text":"“I didn’t think Andrews could actually win in ruby-red South Carolina. I think we will at long last have a check on Trump. I’ve been embarrassed for my former Republican colleagues and their silence in the face of shocking executive over-reach and corruption,” said Tom Rice, a former Republican congressman from South Carolina who voted to impeach Trump after the January 6 2021 attack on the Capitol. “This is historic.”"}],[{"start":292.12,"text":"The Democratic victory also defied heavy spending by Trump’s Super Pac, Maga Inc — which poured $380mn into races from Texas to Michigan — and billionaire allies including Elon Musk and Big Tech tycoon Marc Andreessen."}],[{"start":307.56,"text":"Musk spent more than $200mn to bolster Paxton’s losing race in Texas, where the SpaceX boss has based many of his businesses."}],[{"start":315.96,"text":"“These elections were an overwhelming wave against Trump and his cronies,” said Big Tech billionaire Reid Hoffman, a Democratic mega-donor. “Now it’s on Democrats to make a hopeful case for our future — to fight for an economy that serves every American, not just the already rich and powerful.”"}],[{"start":333.32,"text":"The Democratic victory in the House was forged by the party’s defeats of Republican incumbents in a series of swing districts from the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania to the plains of Iowa and the rustbelt of Michigan and Ohio."}],[{"start":345.68,"text":"The Democrats also held several House seats that were supposed to be at risk, even in Florida where Republicans redrew congressional maps to favour their own candidates — a gerrymandering ploy that appeared to have failed at the ballot box."}],[{"start":358.36,"text":"Additional reporting by Akila Quinio, Sam Learner and Rafe Rosner-Uddin in New York"}],[{"start":367.2,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1793785260_8196.mp3"}