00:27Hello and welcome then to this
00:29India Today special. America has delivered what is best described in American parlance
00:34as a showstopper verdict, one that could dramatically alter the course of politics
00:40in that country and across the world. The US midterm polls have seen Donald Trump and his
00:46Republicans not just defeated but virtually routed. The Democrats have taken control now
00:52of both houses of Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate. Today is a
00:58major day in American politics. Before I tell you exactly what happened, I want to go to
01:04our man on the spot. Rohit Sharma is joining me. He's tracking all that's happened at the
01:09White House. Rohit, good to have you on the show. It's been a pretty dramatic day. Perhaps
01:15the scale of the victory is what people are surprised by. You know many in the Trump administration,
01:20are they still in a state of shock or did they expect some kind of a blue wave? Were they
01:25anticipating the worst? I think there was a sense initially,
01:31Rajdeep, that they would lose the House, which is what happens to every incumbent in modern history.
01:36So I think that that was their understanding that they might lose the House. And this is exactly why
01:40President Ronald Trump was campaigning in deep red states so as to be able to preserve majority in
01:46the Senate. And that was his focus. There have been polling that said, you know, Democrats might
01:50get 50 or 51, 52. But the sheer magnitude of the vote against the policies, I think that's shocked a
01:58lot of people. The fact that, you know, they're not going to be able to regain Senate at least up
02:03until
02:042032. That puts, you know, even the next president, even if it's a Republican president,
02:09under the gun of a Senate majority leadership of the Democrats. So it is a shocker. But President
02:15Trump, as he was giving his soundbites to various media and U.S. channels, sounded like he wants to
02:22work with the Democrats. He also said that he's already spoken to a few Democratic leaders and they
02:27might be able to work something out. So we'll have to wait and watch. President Trump also blaming the
02:32candidates themselves, saying the candidates were not good enough. He was not on the ballot,
02:36which is true. But at the same time, I think the mandate against the policies that administration
02:41has done, especially when it comes to economy, inflation, the war in Iran and the rising cost of
02:47diesel. And for you, what was the biggest victory of the day? If I were to ask you, Roy, you
02:56were tracking
02:57all the elections. Was there one that even surprised you?
03:01Oh, you know, the one that surprised everybody, Rajdeep, is Texas. Texas is, has been the big
03:07red state for, it's like the velvet of the Republicans forever. So for James Talarico to
03:12win that election, not only him to win that election, flip that Senate seat. And then for the governor,
03:17Governor Greg Abbott to lose that election against Gina Hinsuza, who was, she was just pulling like
03:22three, four, six points behind him. I think that tells you that the grip of the MAGA, you know,
03:29is sort of loosening over those states. You talk about Texas, you all, again, other states, including
03:35winning a Senate seat in Kansas. We've never heard that, you know, for decades. So I think the bigger
03:40thing is, Rajdeep, these changes, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kansas, Ohio, what they do is
03:47they bring these states into play when America goes to the presidential election in 2028 and Texas
03:53would be a game changer for them.
03:59Rohit Sharma, for joining us there, we'll have much more from you, of course, in the course of the
04:03night. Thanks very much for joining us.
