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JOHN AVLON: Turnout was extraordinary, as you said almost 150 million votes compared to around 88 million in the last midterm of 2014 which was a 70-year low. So a real surge in voting. And that’s good news for a Democracy in a way that transcends politics. Democrats did not achieve a deep blue wave but they picked off some very powerful seats. Republicans always had an edge in the Senate. Democrats defending ten seats in states Donald Trump has won. Some are still out as we speak. But they were able to pick off people in Missouri and Indiana. so you’ve got divided government going forward, but Democrats really will be able to hold President Trump accountable through Congress.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Okay, so let’s just take that before we go on to the Republican strength. Because they do hold and increased majority in the Senate. Obviously everybody has been looking at this and President Trump was asked about it in his press conference. Will — are you worried that the Democrats will take all of these committee chairmanships and hold you accountable on any number of issues? And he basically said if they do, well, we won’t compromise on legislation and we’ll hold them accountable as well. What do you see going forward? Is it in the Democrats best interests to do that?
AVLON: It is in the Democrats interest to actually follow through and hold the president to account. I think you are going to see the House Ways and Means committee release his taxes, for example, or request his taxes and they will put them into the public domain, that is a big deal for the president,
About This Episode EXPAND
Christiane Amanpour speaks with political commentator John Avlon, Reps. Jackie Speir and Dan Crenshaw, and presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin & Amanpour and Company co-host Walter Isaacson about the results of the U.S. midterm elections. Hari Sreenivasan speaks with New York Times Op-Ed writer and editor Bari Weiss.
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