New Congress will limit Trump’s foreign policy options: Rafael Ordukhanyan

Rafael Ordukhanyan, a political scientist specializing in the United States, spoke to Alpha News about the results of the US midterm congressional elections and their possible impact on Washington’s domestic and foreign policy. In his view, the Republicans lost because American voters were dissatisfied with Donald Trump’s policies, not because they supported the Democratic Party or a liberal agenda.

“Americans voted against Donald Trump. America did not accept the methods he used to try to bring order the way he wanted and the way he saw it. His aims were quite understandable, but apparently the extreme measures Donald Trump once used in his New York real estate business are unacceptable in US domestic politics. We know about the tragic cases of illegal migrants, and American citizens too, by the way, being killed by immigration officers. We know the current economic indicators: inflation, a huge deficit, a huge debt and everything that comes with them. So a certain moment of truth has arrived, and Donald Trump got what he got. Americans have effectively sentenced the Trump administration to an inglorious end. As for the future of the MAGA movement, the Republicans’ defeat does not mean the end of MAGA: its agenda is gradually being taken over by other political figures, above all JD Vance, the Vice President,” Ordukhanyan said.

Speaking about the election’s consequences for US foreign policy, Ordukhanyan said that Trump will likely have to focus on confronting the Democrats for the next two years. At the same time, he believes the results of the vote will have a negative effect on Russian-American relations.

“The current Congress and Senate will certainly pursue a fiercer, Biden-style anti-Russian, I would even say Russophobic, policy. We must understand this very clearly. There will be quite a lot of such moves and initiatives, and all of them will be negative for us. Mr. Dmitriev will have to wait a long, long time for his investment projects with the US. That is now becoming a matter of the distant future,” Ordukhanyan said.

According to the expert, the US Congress will be able to influence aid to Ukraine despite Trump’s position, and the Democrats will be able to use their control over funding to influence the foreign policy of Donald Trump’s administration.

“Congress can help Ukraine despite Trump’s position. Under the Constitution, foreign policy remains the prerogative of the presidential administration, but let’s not forget that Congress holds America’s purse strings. It is Congress that pays the bills for America’s troops in Iran and for a wide range of sanctions. So of course they will influence this indirectly. How? Through a system of compromises. Trump will have to give way to Congress’s russophobic agenda on some issues, and in turn Congress will give way to him on certain funding matters. It’s the familiar political ping-pong America has been playing since its founding,” Ordukhanyan concluded.