00:00Now, the question is, are Republican lawmakers unlikely to challenge U.S. President Donald Trump even if they lose control
00:07of Congress in the midterms, according to political analyst Thomas Kahn?
00:12Kahn, who is the director of American University's Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, says lawmakers fear losing their party's
00:20nomination in primary elections, where Trump still holds considerable influence.
00:25That the defeat of a number of Republican candidates in November will clearly hurt his influence in the Republican Party.
00:36I think it will diminish it, but I still think his influence will be extraordinarily strong for a very simple
00:42reason.
00:42Even though his popularity among Americans in general is at a record low, his popularity in the Republican Party, particularly
00:51the so-called MAGA base, is phenomenally hard, high.
00:56And Republicans, before they run in a general election, as well as Democrats, need to run in primaries.
01:02And in primaries, Donald Trump will still have an enormous amount of influence.
01:07So I think Republican candidates will still be very nervous about challenging President Trump out of fear that they will
01:14lose a primary.
01:16So the short answer to your question is I think that his influence will diminish, but I still think it
01:22will be extraordinarily strong within the Republican Party.
01:25Kahn added Republicans risk losing control of Congress after acting as a rubber stamp for Trump during the first two
01:32years of his second term.
01:33Well, the first two years of President Trump's second term, the Congress was under the control of the Republicans.
01:42And the Republicans in Congress did essentially everything that Donald Trump wanted.
01:48They did not challenge him.
01:50They did not conduct any serious oversight.
01:53And they were basically a rubber stamp for what President Trump wanted.
01:57The elections are going to be a referendum on President Trump's record for the last two years.
02:03And the American people are very unhappy with that record.
02:06They're unhappy with high prices.
02:08They're unhappy with corruption.
02:11They're unhappy with the war in Iran.
02:13And so they, by all accounts, are going to send a message to Washington that they're tired of this record.
02:20And they want a check on the power of the president.
02:23That means that at a bare minimum, the House of Representatives will flip and will be under the control of
02:29the Democratic Party.
02:30It's also possible, although not clear, that the Senate will also be under the control of the Democrats.
02:36And in any case, a number of Republican congressional incumbents will be defeated.
02:43Americans head to the polls on November 3rd to decide which party will control the House and Senate during Trump's
02:49final two years in office.
02:51Republicans currently control both chambers with all 435 House seats and 35 of the 100 Senate seats up for election.
