特朗普输掉中期选举

Republicans lost both chambers of Congress in the midterms, and for Trump this was a decisive defeat.

The post-mortem attributed the defeat to three things.

An unpopular war with Iran, steadily climbing gasoline prices, and the president's own obsession with his projects.

Rewind to mid-February: economic advisers walked into the Oval Office with charts showing employment, consumption and growth all looking up.

A few days later, Trump ordered the start of war with Iran.

The war killed more than twenty American service members and cost U.S. taxpayers over 47 billion dollars.

It also pushed domestic gasoline prices up by 40 percent.

This spring, when advisers warned that the war could drag down Republicans in the midterms, Trump's answer was that there was still plenty of time and they would deal with it later.

Conservative commentator Matt Walsh put it more bluntly, calling it "the greatest political blunder in the last two decades."

In Minneapolis, two Americans were shot dead that winter.

One of them was Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse; the shooter was a Border Patrol agent.

Immigration enforcement had been a strength for the ruling party, but afterward it became a burden, and Trump replaced Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem over it.

The Senate races were concentrated in four states: Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Texas.

Trump strongly backed his loyal allies in all four states, and all four seats were lost.

Leading the charge to retake the Senate was Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

In one week in September, U.S. gasoline prices rose 16 cents in a single week, and diesel prices hit a record high.

Democratic strategists immediately poured money into seats long considered rock-solid, including open seats in Florida and Texas.

Advisers repeatedly urged Trump to address voters' affordability concerns head-on, but he accused the polls of being fake.

The day before the election, he spoke for nearly an hour by the Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial, much of it about his renovations in Washington.

In that speech, he proposed erecting a 250-foot triumphal arch in Washington.

By contrast, his earlier address to the nation about the war lasted only twenty minutes.

After voting ended, Trump told the media that the biggest problem was that he himself was not on the ballot.

Chris Winkelman, chairman of the Republican super PAC Congressional Leadership Fund, gave a completely different answer: this election was about the economy.

Two government shutdowns over health care and immigration were likewise blamed on the ruling party by voters.

In counties that are more than 80 percent Hispanic, Democrats led by 40 percentage points.

Trump campaigned at thirty rallies for Republican candidates, but he could not turn that curve around.

After both chambers of Congress changed hands, Trump's remaining term would have to face a legislature controlled by his opponents.