American politics in the age of President Trump is the world’s most compelling reality television. Its latest plot twist, the American voters’ rebuke of Mr. Trump and the party he leads, gripped audiences everywhere. The global reach of American power, the disruptive nature of the president’s foreign-policy actions and Mr. Trump’s outsize personality made the midterm elections everybody’s business.
With Vice President JD Vance and many others attributing the Republican washout to the Iran war and America’s relations with Israel, the rest of the world is now attempting to read the oracle bones. What do the elections tell us about American politics, what changes will the elections bring to American foreign policy, and what lessons, if any, will the American president absorb from the thumping?