Trump’s spectacular failures left the Democrats an open goal, says MAGGIE PAGANO

Donald Trump came to power two years ago promising an end to inflation and no more foreign wars.

The US President has failed spectacularly on both fronts.

Oil prices are close to a four-year high despite recent drops, diesel is at record levels and gas is the most expensive it’s ever been on an election day, all because the US is stuck in what looks like another forever war in Iran.

It’s really quite simple. Trump and the Republican party have been thrashed by the Democrats in these midterms for breaking those promises.

As well as raising prices for consumers and businesses with his haphazard tariffs, he also waged war on his biggest trading partner and neighbour, Canada.

Then, to cap it all, Trump went to war with Iran, sending oil, fertiliser and commodity prices spiralling again.

As analysts have said, these midterms would have looked very different without strangling the Strait of Hormuz. To borrow a phrase from the Clinton era: ‘It’s the economy, stupid’.

It’s difficult to overestimate the impact that rising gas prices have on US drivers and their families, or the impact that rising red diesel prices have on farmers in deep rural states like Iowa and Kansas, states which the Democrats took for the first time in decades.

Along with rising fuel prices triggered by the war with Iran, came higher US bond yields, pushing up mortgage rates to their highest in three years.

Interesting too that the Democrats made big gains in data centre states, where public opposition to the industry has been growing because of the vast amounts of electricity and water required to power these centres.

Both Georgia and Texas, which make up about a third of all AI data centre investment and projects, turned blue, despite millions of dollars given by X’s Elon Musk to the Republican campaign in his home state of Texas. 

Wall Street’s reaction to Trump’s beating was mixed. The dollar was down on fears of slower growth but equity markets perked up on hopes that the results would mean fewer chaotic Trumpian stops and starts.

Trump’s comments that he will work with the Democrats were taken positively, with analysts suggesting that having them in charge of both Congress chambers might help control government spending and borrowing. 

US Treasuries rose on the hope of gridlock while bond yields were down. In London, the FTSE 100 index gained 1.8 per cent, while Germany’s Dax rose 2.2 per cent. Only defence stocks were lower.

Of course, the big question for US growth is whether AI spending will continue to soar when the Democrats take their seats next January. 

They are known for wanting to tighten regulation of AI and data centres, making the already controversial industry more expensive and complex.

Musk has an original approach, tweeting on X: ‘Data centres in space looking pretty appealing right now.’

Whole lot of nothing

You’ve got to love Stuart Machin. The Marks & Spencer boss knows how to shoot from the hip, and is always on target. 

Machin, announcing strong half-year results, describes John Healey’s first Budget as Chancellor as a ‘whole lot of nothing’. 

He’s right. There was absolutely nothing in the Budget that would help, promote or indeed encourage growth or animal spirits. 

Instead, there was more of the same ‘onslaught’ of taxation and regulation, which just adds even more costs.

As he points out, Healey’s ‘real-terms freeze on business rates’ adds another £10million to the retailer’s £170million rates bill.

He also had a go at the ‘ridiculous’ deposit return scheme under which, from next year, retailers have to install machines for the return of cans and plastic bottles in stores to hike recycling rates.

On second thoughts, Machin is being kind. This scheme is not ridiculous, it’s bonkers. Think about it. Retailers have to buy machines, made presumably of plastics and metals, to store old cans and bottles. 

That means even more materials are being made and transported from factories to shops and then to recycling centres, creating a greater carbon footprint.

Don’t get me wrong, the disposal of single-use bottles and cans is a problem. It’s estimated that 6.5bn of them go to waste every year rather than being recycled, or about 17m a day.

Far better, surely, to take traffic wardens off the beat and give them the job of fining anyone spotted dropping waste?