Donald Trump believes the midterm election results show that people like him. He might have said that no matter what the outcome was; that's his usual interpretation. But these election results at least partly suggest he's right.
Pundits who interpreted the massive voter turnout as a rebuke of Trump _ with some buyers' remorse from those who elected him _ were partly right, too. The blue wave came, along with a red one. We're a divided nation.
The president also has much to do with that, by picking on one group to fire up another _ fostering fear and antagonism against African-Americans protesting racial inequities, Muslims seeking U.S. visas and Central American asylum-seekers. He insults women. Insulting others is also his default.
But look who ran for office, won office, and voted. There were 214 candidates of color, 84 of them (more than a quarter) women running in Tuesday's elections and 26 self-identified as gays and lesbians. An openly gay man, Jared Polis was elected Colorado's governor. Two Muslim women won U.S. House seats in Michigan and Minnesota. Democrat nominee for Vermont governor Christine Hallquist almost became the nation's first transgender governor.
Women also made up about two-thirds of the districts Democrats flipped to gain control of the House. At least 113 won congressional seats, including Native American lesbian Sharice Davids in Kansas. Nine were elected governor.
That too, with some exceptions, was largely a referendum on Trump.
The president chose to view it differently, calling the results "very close to complete victory," praising his own campaigning for Republicans as key to their victories, and attributing most GOP losses to Republican candidates rejecting his embrace. Still, there was a noticeable change in his tone at the post-Election Day press conference. It suggested he was chastened by the shift in power.
He started out unusually gracious, giving soon-to-be House majority leader Nancy Pelosi "a great deal of credit" for Democrats' retake of the House and pledging to work together. "Under the new concept" the president said, "I say, 'Come on, let me see what you have ... ," and ticked off a list of issues Democrats and Republicans could work on together. "It really could be a beautiful bipartisan situation."
For a few minutes, at least, it seemed Trump knew he can't continue to operate unilaterally and defiantly, and that he'll need to start mending fences and making compromises.
"Hopefully the tone can get a lot better," he mused in answer to a reporter's question.
But that hope seemed to evaporate in the next sentence, where he blamed the media for animus. Pretty soon he was insulting reporters and their news organizations, and signaling there would be payback if Democrats try to investigate or bring charges against him.
"You are a rude, terrible person." the President barked at CNN's Jim Acosta, who had asked about the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Acosta's White House press credentials were later revoked. "That's such a racist question," he snapped at PBS Newshour correspondent Yamiche Alcindor, when asked if he was emboldening white nationalists.
When another reporter asked him, "Are white supremacists and homegrown terror groups a threat and a problem?" Trump gave about as firm an answer as he ever has on the subject: "I do believe it's a problem and it's a problem that I don't like even a little bit." It brought back memories of his refusal to denounce white supremacists who marched in the Charlottesville, Virginia, Unite the Right rally last year.
Oddly, hearing Trump at his press conference lifted my spirits, after some key Iowa election results had dampened them. He may use politics to pit people against each other, but he gets disarmed when they win power. And he couldn't argue with the successes of Tuesday's winners.
Instead of counting the losses, I realized we could be savoring the victories. In Iowa, women added nine seats in the Legislature, bringing a record 45 women, or 30 percent. Voting by young people tripled compared to 2014. Three Democrats, two of them inspired, energetic women, Cindy Axne and Abby Finkenauer, will bring new vision to the U.S. House.
And then there were all those determined journalists, young and old, male and female, black, white and brown, who refused to let the president give pat answers or blame them for the ugly tone of public discourse.
One asked Trump if the election of two Muslim women was "a rebuke of your message against multicultural America." Another asked if suburban women voters had shown a rejection of his agenda.
NBC's Peter Alexander asked, "Why are you pitting Americans against one another?" and stood up for competitor Acosta. For that, Alexander also got a tongue lashing, but kept going.
As frustrating as it gets with a president who has dubbed the press the enemy, and news reports as "fake," they continue to fulfill their obligation to keep the public informed. And as picked-on as people without power have felt, they've been motivated to run for office, persisting in the face of losses to put forward different agendas.
Trump may have his own agenda, but he admires strength. It may just be about winning to him, but now he's facing a wave of diverse newcomers who won. This is where things get interesting.
