These midterms could effectively end the Trump era – but neither side is yet ready for what comes next | Nesrine Malik
Despite the US president’s ratings being at rock bottom, undoing his legacy will be difficult, not least because the Democrats are in disarray The stats and polling all suggest one thing: the Republicans are set for a hammering in the midterms. Donald Trump has the lowest approval rating of any US president going into a midterm election since Harry Truman. And it’s still dropping. The Democrats are projected to win…
Key points
- Polls project Democrats winning the midterms by 11 points, the largest swing in almost 20 years, with Trump holding the lowest approval rating of any president going into midterms since Harry Truman.
- Trump has enacted policies that are hard to reverse, including the elimination of USAID, global tariff regimes, expanded ICE powers and an open-ended war with Iran.
- The Democratic party remains in disarray, with old-guard figures spent and some Democrats, such as Haley Stevens, backing Republican opponents over left-wing candidates.
Polls and approval ratings point to a heavy Republican defeat in the US midterms, with Democrats projected to win by 11 percentage points, the largest swing by any party in almost 20 years. Donald Trump enters the vote with the lowest approval rating of any president since Harry Truman, and it is still falling. Writing in The Guardian, Nesrine Malik asks whether the Trump era is really ending.
Malik argues that even a Democratic victory would deliver the country from Trump himself without undoing what he has unleashed. By the time he leaves office, Trump will have been president for eight years and a political force for more than 12.
Policies that resist reversal
Malik lists changes she describes as nearly irreversible: USAID is gone, government departments have been eliminated or incapacitated by Doge, and global tariff regimes and expanded ICE powers remain. Most difficult to unwind, she writes, is the war with Iran, which despite its promised imminent end looks to be an open-ended conflict. Even a Democratic win in 2026 would leave a country permanently shaped by Trump.
He'll finish the job we started
— Barack Obama
Democratic disarray
The Democratic establishment is unable to move decisively backward or forward, Malik writes. The old guard is spent, and Kamala Harris offers only continuity without gravitas. Barack Obama remains relevant and has backed Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, saying: "He'll finish the job we started."
El-Sayed, who would be the first Muslim senator from a state pivotal to the presidential race, has drawn lukewarm endorsements and open attacks over his position on Israel. Congresswoman Haley Stevens, whom he narrowly beat in the primary, endorsed his Republican opponent, Mike Rogers. Malik concludes that Trumpism may only suffer a temporary setback, leaving a Republican party unable to plot a path without Trump and a Democratic party unable to define what it stands for beyond opposing him.
