Trump directs Justice Department to probe Democrats after midterm defeat

Trump orders a Justice Department probe of Democrats

On Saturday, 7 November, Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that he had instructed Justice Minister Todd Blanche to open investigations into Democratic politicians, accusing them of sending threatening letters to many innocent people. He called the planned Democratic inquiries blackmail and said the conduct amounted to a criminal act, without presenting evidence, according to Handelsblatt. Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal had written to World Liberty Financial and donors to the White House ballroom, asking for voluntary answers to inquiries by 4 January, and Trump claimed Democrats had threatened Republican donors with prison. The same day Trump posted that Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan should be declared the winner of the Alaska Senate race, which remains open, with Democrat Mary Peltola narrowly ahead. Trump had earlier said he would accept the midterm result and that he could work with the Democrats, who will hold majorities in both chambers from January.

Republicans weigh a future without Trump

The Republican Party faces a reckoning after its defeat on Tuesday, 3 November, and the first possible successors are already positioning themselves, according to NZZ. Ron DeSantis, Florida's outgoing governor, said on election day that no elected official should profit from office and blamed the Justice Department's delay in releasing the Epstein files for the result, calling it a rebuke to the president and Congress. Ted Cruz criticised Trump's tariffs and the war in Iran as the reasons for the rebuke, while JD Vance concluded on X that the Iran war was the cause. NZZ notes that all three criticise Trump only cautiously, because he remains president and the most powerful Republican.

Staff shake-up and the Hegseth question

On Friday, 6 November, Trump replaced chief of staff Susie Wiles, 69, with Stephen Miller, the hardline adviser known as the architect of Trump's mass deportation policy. NZZ reports that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth could face impeachment proceedings started by Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie, and that enough votes would be available for them. The same report says Trump would likely push Hegseth to resign beforehand, and that Hegseth, who calls himself the war minister, must answer for the failed conduct of the war in Iran. Blick also reports that an early departure by Secretary of State Marco Rubio was discussed, without confirmation.

Nate Silver's resignation claim

Election forecaster Nate Silver said on the podcast Still Counting, in the night to Wednesday, 4 November, that he had a strange intuition Trump could soon step down. Silver argued that Trump had lost his central source of power, his party's fear of him, and could face a phase of paralysis as a lame duck. Blick and der Standard stress that Silver offered no data or insider information, that his view is a personal thought rather than a forecast, and that a voluntary exit would contradict Trump's career. Watson adds that Silver called isolation dangerous for Trump, while Trump's recent moves, including Miller's appointment, point to a radicalisation of policy rather than a handover of power.

Fox News and the media debate

Blick reports that Tucker Carlson, a right-wing podcaster and former Fox News star, says the era of his former employer is over. He argues that the channel pushed Trump into the Iran war through a targeted campaign, which the MAGA camp regards as its main sin. Michael Dougherty, writing in the conservative National Review, describes the end of Fox News Republicanism and sees Trump as the completion of a populist movement that George W. Bush had already carried. Blick argues that in fragmented podcast and influencer audiences, attention rewards distinction rather than cohesion. Carlson and Megyn Kelly now reach their audiences through their own channels.