When Americans go to the polls for their midterm elections on Tuesday, they face what should not really be a daunting task in voting for the future of the country.

If it is an America based on justice, respect for the rights of citizens, and one that believes the resources of the country should not be concentrated in the hands of a few, especially an emerging oligarch which seems bent to autocratic control of the country, then their decisions should not be too hard.

If they recognise that the country has taken a very serious lurch towards totalitarianism characterised by a disrespect for the democratic norms that have served the country well since its independence, then the task of voting for a clear choice should not be too difficult.

If it is a rejection of the messianic complex of a sitting president who believes he can do no wrong, then the task should not be too hard. The moral bankruptcy of the executive leadership should frighten them.

Here, the Republican Party, which the president heads and has, in fact, eviscerated to promote a rabid and dangerous brand of politics under a “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) doctrine, must be singled out for special disapprobation.

It is absolutely appalling the wreck that President Donald Trump has made of the Republican Party in such a short time. Before he ran for office in the first term, the party had been showing serious signs of ennui, of moral bankruptcy characterised by an abandonment of the principles that had given it respectability in the eyes of the American electorate.

The United States midterm elections are scheduled for Tuesday, November 3, 2026.

A party that believed in free trade, free market competition, and constrained public spending has now been reduced to one which believes in the sovereignty of tariffs and spending public resources like drunken sailors on shore leave. Reigning in public spending, of which they used to accuse the Democrats of not doing, no longer appeals to them. The deficit now has the legs of Usain Bolt, most of it increased under Trump, to the extent that the country is now experiencing the staggering and unsustainable debt load of over US$40 trillion. And the spending continues with abandon, with no adult in the Administration demonstrating any real competence.

So if Americans are really concerned with any of this, they would not reward that party, for to do so is to sanction the status quo, at least for the next two years while Trump is still in office. If they are, they would not reward a party that has been more than willing to aid and abet the most egregious policies and decisions of the Trump Administration.

The Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, has been most odious in bending his knees to the putative “King Trump”. The Senate, with its power of consent, has unleashed some of the most unworthy public servants on the American society and, by extension, the world. Even when they knew that individuals were not qualified for the jobs, they were willing to suspend their moral judgments because the president either expected them to or ordered them to.

And bear in mind that this is a president whose judgment in appointing people to public office is just as good as that of a squirrel figuring out how to cross a busy street.

Thus, the party has become a shell of its former self, and in the present iteration, a threat to public safety and order. You only have to look at what is happening in the environment with regard to climate change and the rollback of car emission safety standards to know what the evidence is. Some of the best scientists have been fired from their posts at the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the National Institute of Health (NIH), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and other bodies, or have left voluntarily as they cannot stomach the actions of the one who heads the department of Health and Human Services (HHS) — and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Voters must remember that it is the Republican Party, in failing to do the right thing, that has foisted these people upon them. It had the power to say no, but was willing to succumb to MAGA expectations. The party does not deserve to be in power, and my advice to those who have not voted yet and will do so next Tuesday is wherever you see the word “Republican” on a ballot, the “R” stands for “run”, which means you must head in the opposite direction.

To mark that name is to indicate that you have been happy with what has gone on and you want more of the same. The party does not deserve your vote for it, along with the president who it has propped up, is primarily responsible for the things that ail you today. It is time to give it the proverbial boot.

I call this an existential election because of the number of things that are at stake. Elon Musk, of Space X and Tesla fame, is not spending millions of dollars on the elections because he loves America and even Trump. He knows that it is in his best interest to have the status quo maintained. If the Democrats win, and do so resoundingly, many of the lucrative contracts that he has with the Government will come under severe scrutiny. Some may very well be discontinued, hence his heavy spending. This is also true of the other tech moguls whose purported love for the country is a mere idea deeply buried in their colon, not in their brains.

Trump knows that he will be under scrutiny if the Democrats take over even one section of the Congress. If the Democrats win the House and do well in the Senate, they would be well advised not to consider impeachment as an overarching concern. Their first duty is to stem the rot that has set in. Trump, pitiably, will continue to be Trump. As an old oak tree, I believe he can no longer bend to decency and the noble principles of governance. If he loses and does so “bigly”, he will be like a wounded dragon lashing out at every perceived enemy. In this scenario, his age would be a benefit to the people, but he could still do a lot of damage to the American society and the world.

And this is regrettable, for no president in living memory has been given the opportunity to do right by the American people that he has been given. He has interpreted the immunity given to him by the Supreme Court as an opportunity to do some of the most dastardly things imaginable, visiting needless suffering on the poor and vulnerable and casting doubt on the integrity of democratic processes that have served the country well. He has sullied the good name of America in the world to the extent that people are fast losing the respect they once had for the country.

And none of this had to be, but this is the choice he made in tandem with his characterological infrastructure. When I criticise Trump my detractors accuse me of Trump derangement syndrome, or worse, that I hate him. Let me say it very loudly that all may hear: I do not hate Trump, I pity him for how he has missed the excellent opportunities given to him to be a truly great president. I do not believe in hate and I certainly do not hate that which I pity.

My prophetic intelligence does not give me any real comfort as we approach these existential elections next Tuesday. As I averred in an earlier piece, the people will have voted and the Democrats might be given the upper hand, but will their votes be accounted for in a sound and orderly transfer of power to the winner. My strong belief is that this will not be the case and the long knives of chicanery will be drawn to prevent an orderly process and create further chaos that will undermine the integrity of the people’s choice, if the choice is for the Democrats.

I wish I could end on a more optimistic note, but the gathering storms do not give me greater standing. Nonetheless, I hope to God that this will not be the case.

Dr Raulston Nembhard is a priest, social commentator, and author of the books Finding Peace in the Midst of Life’s Storms; Your Self-esteem Guide to a Better Life; and Beyond Petulance: Republican Politics and the Future of America. He writes a Substack — The Healing Self — on substack.com. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or stead6655@aol.com.

Raulston Nembhard