Midterm defeat deals death blow to Trump coalition

A historic Democratic rout sounded the death knell for the Trump coalition, commentators argued.

Republicans' midterm wipeout on Tuesday marks the end of a nationalist movement based on " projecting invulnerability and ruthlessness ," Politico wrote, to which "so many executives and diplomats and generals and prime ministers chose to submit."

Still, the results don't guarantee years of Democratic dominance: Swing voters are " leasing one-year terms ," journalist Derek Thompson wrote, making Tuesday less a realignment than a "historic collapse."

President Donald Trump's once-successful strategy of turning out his base "with money from people who didn't understand that base" didn't work this time, Semafor's David Weigel argued: "Democrats made a bet that gravity was real, and Trump couldn't defy it anymore ."