The Democratic party in the USA has registered a landslide victory over Republican party and its leader President Donald Trump in the mid term elections for the Senate and House of Representatives of the American Congress. People’s massive mandate for Democratic Party has led it to establish its control of the Senate and House of Representatives by securing a majority of seats in both the bodies and causing devastating defeats for Trump. Such massive loss for Trump and his party has been described by leading economist Jeffrey Sachs as nothing but continental in proportions and scope. He also said that people by enabling Democratic Party to take control of the Senate and the House of Representatives have wholly repudiated Trumpism which caused havoc to the USA in all spheres. The prolonged and unending unnecessary war against Iran was mindlessly continued by Trump. The resultant crisis it caused, in terms of skyrocketing fuel and gas prices, aggravated people’s inability to afford health care and livelihood opportunities. These became a major and immediate factor behind the catastrophic defeat, inflicted by people of the USA on Trump. Apart from the continuing the unnecessary war on Iran Trump persistently undermined the Constitution by behaving like an autocrat.
Beginning of Trump’s First Term
Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt in their book, “How Democracies Die,” published in 2018, outlined the danger posed by president Trump to democracy inUSA during his first year in office.
“For example, in the United States,” they stated, “the rise of Donald Trump has been cited as a prime example of how populism can strain the democratic fabric.” Proceeding further Levitsky and Ziblatt stated, “Trump’s frequent clashes with the media, his undermining of judicial authority, and his challenge to electoral integrity are all seen as part of a populist strategy that prioritizes personal or partisan gain over democratic norms.” “Trump’s rhetoric,” they remarked, “often framed the political opponents and institutions as corrupt or illegitimate, thus deepening the societal divide and questioning the legitimacy of the democratic process.”
Issue of Unconstitutional Tariffs
Democracy and the Constitution getting imperilled by Trump has outraged people and it intensified during his second term which began January 2025 and will end in 2029. The unilateral imposition of tariffs on other countries by him without approval of the US Congress was declared by the US Supreme Court as unconstitutional.
It is worth recalling that on assuming office as US President for a second term Donald Trump promulgated national emergency to address twin problems of massive influx of drugs (from Canada, Mexico, and China to the US) and “large and persistent” trade deficits that wiped out American manufacturing base and considerably weakened “critical supply chains.”
He justified the declaration of emergency on the ground that these two threats were “unusual and extraordinary” and invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a 1977 legislation, which he claimed authorized the President to impose tariffs during emergency.
In February 2026 the Chief Justice of USSupreme Court , declaring the imposition of tariffs on several countries as unconstitutional , affirmed that the Constitution mandates only the American Congress to “lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises.” He further observed that the framers recognized the unique importance of this taxing power—a power which “very clearly” encompassed in its scope “the power to impose tariffs.” He went on to add that the framers gave Congress “alone... access to the pockets of the people” and they “…did not vest any part of the taxing power in the Executive Branch.”.
The Court categorically stated that the US is not at war with every country and that, during peacetime, the President cannot arrogate to himself the powers of the Congress to levy tariffs which are “unbounded in scope, amount and duration”.
That historic judgement upheld the separation of powers which constitutes one of the building blocks of the American Constitution. By unequivocally stating that Congress’s jurisdiction to impose tariffs could not be usurped by the President and by underlining the inviolability of the ideal of separation of power, the Court accorded primacy to the Constitution over the President who arrogated to himself the power of the legislature.
No King Protests
Those developments concerning the defence of the Constitution by the US Supreme Court assumed significance for the Americans who were weary of Trump’s whims and fancies manifested in his decisions to deploy armed forces in several cities in complete disregard of the sanctity of the liberty and freedom mandated by the Constitution of the USA.
Such threats to freedom assumed crisis proportions and so people expressed their fury on several occasions by organising massive “No King” protests and marches on several occasions.
In October 2025 such a march was organised across the USA enlisting hundreds and thousands of people who unambiguously proclaimed that “Constitution is not optional” and warned that certain measures taken by Trump were unconstitutional and threatened democracy.
It is salutary to note that during that “No king” protest rally people expressed their disaffection against Trump by shouting, “Nothing is more patriotic than protesting” or “Resist Fascism”. The vast swathes of the US witnessed people walking with placards on which were written, “Democracy not Monarchy.” A man was seen walking by holding a banner in which it was written, “No One Paid Me to Be Here,”. He did so in response to the Republican party leaders alleging that the paid protesters were marching as part of . the “Hate America Rally.”
Even earlier, in the “No King” protests organised in June 2025 and especially in Birmingham, Alabama, the protesters recalled the city’s rich history of protests and the determining role those played in the non-violent Civil Rights Movement organised by Martin Luther King. That historic movement eventually resulted in granting voting rights for the blacks in the USA.
In the aforementioned book by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt they flagged the point that protests when rooted in non-violent methods have a better chance of registering success. They observed, “Public protest is a basic right and an important activity in any democracy, but its aim should be the defense of rights and institutions, rather than their disruption. In an important study of the effects of black protest in the l960s, political scientist Omar Wasow found that black-led nonviolent protest fortified the national civil rights agenda in Washington and broadened public support for that agenda.”
The “No King” protests in the USA against Trump remained peaceful and non-violent and very significantly flagged the necessity of saving the Constitution.
Yearning for Defending the Constitution
Therefore, the massive mandate of people for Democratic party and the crushing defeat for the Republican party and President Trump can be persuasively explained in terms of the American people’s yearning for governance based on the American Constitution.
"The Constitution still matters to all of us" and "The Constitution is not optional" became the rallying cry in the “No King” protest rally. All those who participated in it emphatically stressed on defending the rule of law, the separation of powers, and democratic governance against perceived executive overreach. Exercise of constitutional freedoms—specifically freedom of speech, press, and peaceful assembly was repeatedly invoked by the protesters. One of the defining images of those “No King” marches was the display of large replicas of the American Constitution, historical references to the American Revolution's rejection of monarchy, and participation from groups like veterans who cited their oath to defend the Constitution.
It is against that backdrop of defending the Constitution that repudiation of Trumpism in the mid term elections in the USA should be seen.
