Expert: After US midterms, Trump may pursue more active foreign policy
After Republicans lost both houses of Congress, US President Donald Trump may turn more to foreign policy, says Liis Mure of Estonia's International Centre for Defence and Security. Congress has fewer tools to restrict a president's actions in that area.
Democrats won both the Senate and the House of Representatives in the US midterm elections held on Tuesday, stripping Republican President Donald Trump of majorities in both chambers of Congress. Speaking on Estonian radio Vikerraadio on Wednesday morning, Liis Mure, a senior research fellow at the International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS) in Estonia, said Trump's attention could shift toward foreign policy, which may not bring Europe greater stability.
Congress's influence is uneven
Mure explained that Congress controls the federal purse and decides what is funded, so the impact on the administration as a whole will be significant. In foreign and defense policy, however, the US president has very broad powers, and the legislature has fewer ways to restrain him. In her view, if Trump is more constrained at home, he may channel more energy abroad.
Politico reported on Monday that some European NATO members fear a Republican defeat could lead Trump to attack the alliance more sharply.
Looking to a legacy
With his second term at its midpoint, Trump is likely thinking about his legacy. Mure believes he wants to leave a mark on world history and will try to achieve something big. A possible meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin is reportedly being planned. At home, she said, his focus appears to be on monuments to himself, such as triumphal arches and ballrooms.
Mure noted that since the start of his second term Trump has governed relatively freely, without cooperating with Congress. Congress has few levers in foreign policy. Much will depend on whether Republicans, especially those in Congress, begin to openly oppose him. So far the party has been almost entirely under his control, although internal criticism has grown significantly since the start of the war with Iran.
Election results
In the Senate races, where about a third of seats were contested, Democrats won in several traditionally Republican strongholds, including Texas, Ohio and Kansas. In Kansas, a Democrat was elected for the first time in a century. The BBC reported that Trump said the Democrats "did a good job"; the Iran war and higher fuel prices are acknowledged to have played a part in the result.
