Is the US blue wave a turning point for Europe, too?

Far-right populists remain insurgent and pro-EU governments are braced for Trump’s betrayal. But the midterms also showed that democracy can fight back

“Is Maga dead?” asked Margaret, a Guardian reader in Switzerland, in a live Q&A with our correspondents after the seismic US midterm elections. If Margaret’s query expressed a hope that the Democrats’ blue wave could transform Europe’s fortunes after two years of Maga-induced trauma, she was probably not alone.

The resounding defeat for Donald Trump’s Republicans and the installation of a Democratic-controlled US Congress has been met with understandable relief in European capitals. In the short term however, the worst for Europe is not over.