Inflation, war and corruption: Will anger at Trump see Republicans punished at midterms?

Well, for more now, France 24's international affairs editor, Philip Turrell, joins me on set. Hi, Philip. So this isn't new, the fact that the midterms are often seen as a referendum on the president in office. But how are these particular midterm, this round of midterm elections, different than others? Well, I'll give you a couple of figures. First of all, the polls, this is an NBC poll which says that 60% of American voters disapprove of... The way Donald Trump has handled the country over the past two years, only 38% approve the way the president is in office and what he's been doing. That is a low score for Donald Trump. These elections are often a referendum, as you were saying, on the way that the president and the administration has handled the economy over the past two years. But there is another thing which is quite interesting, and that is that 54 million Americans have already cast their vote in these elections. That's 20 million more this time in the midterms of 2022, which shows that there is going to be a high turnout of people who want to have their say in the way that the country is being run. And what we're faced with here is an historically unpopular Republican president, frustration over the rising costs of food, bills. Inflation and also anger about the war in Iran, this forever war that Donald Trump said that he would never start. And there is another issue which is also very high on voters' concerns, and that is corruption. That's something that actually affects Donald Trump more than most presidents in the past, with two-thirds of voters saying that Donald Trump has used his office to get rich. I'll give you a figure for that, $2.7 billion worth of money, more for Donald Trump since He took office for his second term at the beginning of last year. That's according to Forbes magazine. So all of these elements put together have created this standoffish effect by many Republican, traditional Republican voters who don't want Donald Trump to be given a green card to carry on what he's doing at the moment. And of course, this is, I think, galvanized support for Democratic candidates because they see this as a way of undermining Donald Trump and making his last couple of years in office much more difficult. So what does Donald Trump risk losing, Philip, if Republicans perform poorly, not only in the House, but also in the Senate? Well, the first point that he risks losing is his first full control, yes, of the Senate and maybe even the House of Representatives or the other way around. The House of Representatives is more likely, the Senate less likely, but he could lose control of the Senate. They're both in the hands of the Republicans right now. That means that Congress would entirely be in the hands of The Democrats, that would be bad news for Donald Trump and for the Republicans, because basically what it means is that they would then have a voting power over the federal budget of the United States. And also they will be able to lead powerful committees to investigate alleged corruption under Trump, the Trump administration, particularly concerning the Epstein files and other explosive issues. And they could also launch proceedings to impeach Donald Trump and also other members of. His administration, notably Pete Hegseth and even Marco Rubio. So I think there is quite a lot of concern as far as Donald Trump is concerned about what might happen if the Republicans lose control of at least one, if not both, houses of Congress. That's why we've seen this very aggressive approach. In that message that Donald Trump was giving, saying, you know, if you vote for the Democrats, you're handing over the keys to a party that will ruin the United States. We have a golden era. We brought back the golden age to the U.S. I think many Republican voters feel, well, it's a golden age for the Trump administration and for Trump's cronies who've made billions of dollars. But for most Americans, they're still struggling to make ends meet. And the Trump administration doesn't seem to be able to be able to do anything about that. To try to boost money availability of better health care and education for the average American.