The Japan Times - Trump's Republicans scramble to stop Democratic midterms wave

Polls show Democrats are all but certain to take the majority from Republicans in the House of Representatives and -- against all previous expectations -- with a shot at winning the Senate.

But after a decade of Trump defying political gravity and two years of a second presidency in which he has ridden roughshod over every norm, Democrats remain nervous.

"Nauseously optimistic," Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock told CNN to describe the mood.

Trump headlined the Republicans' last-ditch charge, holding rallies for candidates in Iowa and Kansas -- states where ordinarily his party should be confident of victory and not require presidential boosts.

Along with making lurid claims that Democrats will turn the country communist, Trump is dangling the promise of $5,000 payments to everyone in the country if his party wins.

"I feel good," Trump told reporters at his luxury golf club in Florida late Saturday. "The country has never done better."

Polls, however, show the Republican is the most unpopular US president in decades and while his efforts may galvanize a hardcore base of right-wing supporters, a growing majority has turned on him.

An NBC News poll released Sunday showed 60 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump's performance, particularly over high prices exacerbated by his now eight-month, sputtering war against Iran.

While Tuesday is election day and results will start landing that night, early voting has already seen a record 53 million people cast ballots around the country.

- Curb on Trump's power -

A Democratic House would impose the first real political constraints on Trump since he swept back into office in 2025.

The Republican's second term has featured a relentless expansion of presidential power.

He has torn down part of the White House to build a ballroom, put his image on money and official buildings, disrupted the global economy with sweeping economic tariffs, and threatened to invade or annex allies like Canada and Greenland.

Winning the House would give Democrats serious power.

They'd be in charge of the budget and take control of committees set to probe allegations of mass corruption, Trump's links to infamous sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and other explosive topics.

The biggest election question mark is over who will win the Senate, where Republicans have a slender majority.

Only a third of the Senate's 100 seats are being contested in these midterms and few of the races were seen as favorable to Democrats. However, with surprisingly strong challenges mounted in deeply Republican states like Texas and Kansas, pollsters now say the odds of a Democratic flip are at minimum even.

A Democratic Senate would be able to shut down Trump's appointments to courts -- especially the Supreme Court.

- Will Trump accept results? -

Reflecting the high stakes, these midterms have seen about $11 billion spent on advertising, with large chunks coming from individual mega-donors.

Elon Musk, a close Trump ally who led the so-called DOGE in dismantling entire government departments, has given a staggering nearly half-billion dollars to help get Republican candidates elected.

The campaigns have also been marked by blistering language and insults, such as Trump's repeated false claims that Michigan's Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is a "jihadist."

Hanging over everything is concern that Republicans will refuse to accept a loss, leading to a constitutional crisis similar to Trump's attempt to overturn his 2020 presidential election defeat.

The White House continued to undermine Americans' confidence in their elections over the weekend, slapping down a post that explained it is "normal" that the counting process in complex districts may show a candidate ahead at first, but losing once all ballots are in.

"No it isn't," the official presidential X account said.

S.Fujimoto--JT