A week after the election, the Republicans secured a majority in the House of Representatives, with 218 of the 435 total seats, thus completing a “trifecta.” A week prior, the Republicans also won a Senate majority around the same time that Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, was declared president-elect. The average Cantabrigian might have a lot of questions: why did this happen now? Will Trump’s power go unchecked? While daunting, trifectas are not uncommon and are often a symptom of a deeper social and economic unrest.
When a trifecta occurs, it usually represents a major shift in public opinion. This one is no exception. With global inflation spiking in 2022 due to volatile oil prices and COVID-19, as well as a series of new conflicts, the blame fell upon those in power. “Internationally, across the globe, incumbent parties were losing elections,” pointed out Mr. Montgomery, a World History teacher at CRLS. “People attributed the global inflation to parties in power […] it was a reflection of people’s anger and animosity coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Going into Covid, moderates viewed Trump as too volatile a leader to deal with such a crisis, but coming out of it, voters felt like the Biden administration poorly handled or outright didn’t handle issues like inflation and foreign wars.
“Trump has a very populist message, in terms of the way he speaks and what he talks about,” Mr. Landwehr, a CRLS Critical Issues teacher, told the Register Forum. “They’re looking at grocery prices…how easy it is for them to get a house,” he said. Mr. Flaherty, a 9th grade World History teacher, shared a similar view. “The democratic party doesn’t understand the working class at all, and they’ve been trying to create their identity for them. The working class are first-generation immigrants, and their jobs very much rely on making a fair wage, every single day,” Flaherty noted. “They don’t care about the way the Republican party is being painted as racist, they care about being able to pay their bills.”
Now that the Republican Party does have a trifecta, it would make it significantly easier for the party to pass Conservative legislation that has been pending throughout the Biden administration. But this doesn’t mean that Trump could enact mass deportations or elevate himself to dictatorial status with ease. According to Mr. Flaherty, these notions are “fearmongering and scaremongering by the left. He’s not going to be able to legally employ the U.S. military to deport people.”
After the tumultuous Biden administration and a heated election, it’s no surprise that large fluctuations in the government are occurring. While this will give the Republicans an opportunity to push their agenda, the House and Senate are up for grabs again in two years. While the possibilities can be taken to extremes, you can rest assured that the chances of dictatorship or real erosion of democracy are very low. We are part of the longest-lasting democracy in the world and the fact that we give our citizens a voice, regardless of economic status or location, is something to be celebrated.
