Russian state media see the end of Trumpism after the election, Chinese state media expect a long power struggle

State media in Russia and China read the result of the congressional election differently. The basis is projections according to which the Democrats win the Senate and the House of Representatives. There is no official final result yet.

Russia: a vote against Trump, more pressure on Europe. The state agency RIA Novosti (Mikhail Katkov, 4 November, 12:06 CET) gives the floor to Vladimir Vasilyev of the Institute for US and Canadian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He calls the election a referendum on confidence in the president: “Эти выборы были не за что-то или кого-то, а против него” (This election was not for something or someone, but against him). Trumpism has no future, he says.

The commentator Pyotr Akopov writes at RIA Novosti (5 November, 6:00 CET) that Europe must expect more pressure from Washington after the election. Trump could reduce or completely stop deliveries to Kyiv. Europe's hope for a “normal” president from 2029 is in vain, because the left-wing Democrats are not interventionists either, he writes.

China: tactics instead of a change of course. The state agency Xinhua (4 November, 17:11 CET) lists “four surprises” of the election and expects Trump to govern on the defensive with significantly less power in the remaining two years. Citing an NBC exit poll, Xinhua writes: “选民对两党看法都不好” (Voters do not view either party positively).

Liang Yabin, professor at the Central Party School of the Communist Party, writes in a commentary for the newspaper Beijing News, reprinted at Sina (5 November), that Trump's conciliatory turn after the election is a tactical adjustment, not a change of course. A power struggle is beginning between the White House and Congress that is more likely to lead to paralysing gridlock. The 2028 presidential election is not safely in the hands of the Democrats, he writes.

The Russian texts thus see an end of Trumpism, the Chinese ones rather a continuation of the struggle for power in Washington. These are the views of the respective state media and authors. Earlier reactions from Moscow and Beijing are under Reports, what the new Congress can do from January is in the timeline.