Since regaining the Presidency in 2025, President Trump has roiled the world bigly. With apologies to Cassius (Julius Caesar), “he (Trump) bestrides the narrow world like a Colossus” while leaders around the world cower in fear.
On Tuesday, finally, the bosses of Mr. Trump, the voters of America, spoke. Their rebuke of President Trump and the Republicans was historic. As they have done to many Presidents, dating back to Lincoln and beyond, including Truman, Ford, Clinton, Bush and Obama, the rebuke was humbling.
They took both houses of Congress and a majority of governorships from the Republicans. And they were inclusive — all eleven Arab candidates won, as did the first openly gay senator — and they made Latinos governors of the two largest states while electing the first Black Speaker and female Black governor.
And there was no violence — none!
As expected, the punditocracy is agog with theories of why this happened and lessons that can be learned. There is, in my view, one over-arching reason for this debacle — President Trump.
Here are a few lessons:
First, America, despite its challenges, is inclusive.
Second, voters are willing to defy party bosses in picking candidates, as they did in Michigan or, failing that, to refuse to vote for an imposed candidate as they did in South Carolina.
Third, good candidates produce victories while bad candidates produce unimaginable defeats, as happened in Texas.
Fourth, good ballot initiatives can increase turnout, as Florida showed.
Fifth, nobody owns anybody’s vote. Republicans do not own Texas votes any more than the NPP owns Ashanti votes or the NDC owns votes in the Northern regions of Ghana.
Many Ghanaians have spoken longingly about having a mid-term election similar to what happened in the US in our polity. That goal is within our grasp through the constitutional review process that is unfolding before us. With a few changes to Chapter 20 of the Constitution, we can have MMDCEs and District Assemblies elected by general voters two years after every presidential election, contested by party or independent candidates. Imagine what would happen if we were about to have such a referendum on the Mahama administration in two weeks.
Finally, we have hopefully realized that America’s strength is not its military might, not its financial muscle, not its technological breadth but simply, its democratic accountability.
No matter how big an American President thinks he is, he can be humbled in the voting booth. Trump said, “Pretend I am on the ballot” and voters did that.
That is why in 1864, Lincoln feared the voters more than the Southern armies led by Lee and others! This begs the question: If Xi Jinping, Tafraky3, starts misbehaving, like Putin or Trump, who will call him to order? This question is perhaps at the heart of America’s enduring global dominance.
Long live America!
Long live Democracy!
By Arthur Kobina Kennedy (5th November, 2026)
