New Delhi, Nov. 5 -- The scale of the victory for the Democrats in the US midterm elections would have taken even the Blue camp by surprise. It was uncharacteristic of President Donald Trump not to have questioned the results. Trump ascribed the Republicans' loss to his absence from the contest, to shield himself from blame.

The Democrats have now taken control of both the US houses in a spectacular performance. Such a one-sided vote suggests that voters are deeply unhappy with Trump's policies that have dragged US forces to a distant conflict, made fuel costly for Americans, and isolated the country globally because of arbitrary tariffs.

It is too early to say how the election setback would change policymaking in the rest of the Trump ...