American democracy spoke on Tuesday, November 3. And its voice was strong enough to sweep away any temptation to dispute the results. It is tempting to see the setback suffered by the President of the United States in the midterms as the beginning of the end of the Trump era. Unlike the situation in 2018, the president started with a more favorable base, thanks to an indisputable reelection and an electoral coalition that brought together traditional Republican voters with votes from minorities who had long been loyal to the Democratic Party.

Yet in just 20 months, Donald Trump squandered his capital by reneging on a large portion of his campaign promises. He reignited inflation by imposing massive tariffs – even though inflation, along with immigration, was one of the key reasons for the defeat of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in November 2024. Trump has also dragged his country into a new unwinnable war, to the point where the attack on Iran and the ensuing quagmire could precipitate a US withdrawal from the Middle East. Trump has also maintained unwavering support for tech magnates, even as public opposition to energy-hungry data center projects – linked to higher electricity costs and few jobs – translated into votes.

So it would be a mistake to misinterpret the nature of the November 3 vote, which was certainly amplified by a disjointed campaign in which Trump repeatedly hurled insults and went off on tangents. This vote was more a reaction to everyday cost of living issues associated with his presidency than to the concerning attacks on the rule of law that he has carried out since his return to the White House, pretending to believe that his reelection amounted to approval of an assault on institutions.

Because the president is who he is, a "divided government" – the US term when one party controls the White House and the other holds Congress – is a welcome brake. The congressional oversight power, which the Republican-dominated Congress had refused to exercise, should be reinvigorated. This is urgently needed, given the unprecedented instances of conflicts of interest and influence peddling observed in only 20 months.

Democrats might be tempted to initiate a third impeachment process against the president. Despite their triumph in states considered strongholds of the Republican Party, the qualified majority required in the Senate to confirm an impeachment adopted by the House of Representatives makes such a process highly unlikely – it would simply be a waste of time.

Even after a "shellacking" – the term Democrat Barack Obama used to describe his own, less severe, midterm defeat in 2010 – a president still retains significant powers, especially in foreign policy. After another defeat in 2014, Obama achieved important results on the international stage, including the Iran nuclear deal, cooperation with China on reducing greenhouse gases and the normalization of relations with Cuba. Trump immediately reversed all three, with consequences for Iran that are clear today.

Trump will therefore keep a degree of influence that many will see as a capacity for obstruction, starting with Ukrainians, who watch helplessly as Washington aligns itself with Moscow while Russian bombings kill civilians almost daily. The Trump era was not wiped off the American political map on November 3.