Noted British historian, author, and head of the Oxford University European Studies Center Timothy Garton Ash wrote in an op-ed for The Guardian that the 2026 midterm elections will decide the fate of the United States.
Will it continue as a democratic republic of unified states or continue on its current path to become the Christian nationalist, white supremacist authoritarian regime the Republicans' Project 2025 called for.
Garton Ash stated:
"I return to Europe from the US with a clear conclusion: American democrats (lowercase d) have 400 days to start saving US democracy."
"If next autumn’s midterm elections produce a Congress that begins to constrain Donald Trump there will then be a further 700 days to prepare the peaceful transfer of executive power that alone will secure the future of this republic. Operation Save US Democracy, stages 1 and 2."
He added:
"During seven weeks in the US this summer, I was shaken every day by the speed and executive brutality of President Trump’s assault on what had seemed settled norms of US democracy and by the desperate weakness of resistance to that assault."
Garton Ash concluded:
"So the big question is whether the negative economic consequences of Trump will be palpable to ordinary voters before the midterms. One astute political observer suggested to me that Trump, flush with revenue from the new tariffs, could do a pre-election cash handout to voters, perhaps presented as compensation for the 'temporary difficulties' of the transition to a MAGA economy."
"That would be a classic populist move."
Will the majority of voters fall for more Republican one-time cash payments while the economy is restructured by the GOP to benefit only the wealthy on the backs of the middle class and low income workers?
Or will Americans wake up to what's happening to their civil and basic human rights?
People either agreed with Garton Ash's assessment or felt he was being optimistic.
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In April, Garton Ash was asked by The New Voice of Ukraine (NV):
"We’re watching the US lose much of its democratic world leadership in a short time under Donald Trump. Can European countries take the lead instead?"
The respected scholar responded:
"What’s happened with the US is much worse. It’s not just that they’ve lost their leadership role. In a sense, they’ve crossed over to the other side. The Trump administration has adopted such a pro-Russian stance on 'ending the war' that it’s effectively become another transactional great power..."
"So, the West as we knew it before Jan. 20 no longer exists. That makes the challenge even more dramatic."
"The European Union, by its nature, is not a hegemonic bloc but a community of democracies. The question now is whether that community—about 30 countries—can, by consensus and voluntarily, muster enough power to defend democracy on our own continent."
While MAGA Republican President Donald Trump loves to brag about how respected he is on the international stage, the evidence clearly indicates otherwise.
In a matter of months, Trump destroyed any respect, trust, or goodwill the United States once enjoyed amongst the world's democracies, and became an easily-manipulated pawn of the world's authoritarians.
As for the 2026 midterms, hopefully more voters decide to actually vote. Trump won his second presidential term in an election where the largest voting bloc didn't vote Republican or Democrat.
The largest voting bloc in 2024 was eligible voters who didn't bother to vote, essentially handing Trump his victory.
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