World leaders react to Democrats' big wins in US midterms

Europeans were generally pleased by Democrats’ midterm victory because most are not fans of Donald Trump, but official reactions were restrained. A German diplomat warned that European governments still have to work with Trump for two years, while Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said voters rejected impoverishment, hatred, sexism, and climate denial. An EU Parliament vice president called the result cautiously optimistic but urged Europe to stand on its own feet. Diplomats and analysts told Orla Barry that the damage to the U.S.-Europe relationship over the past two years means control of Congress will not restore the former “special relationship.”

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum avoided celebrating Trump’s defeat and instead highlighted the victories of two Mexican-American governors, while Mexican newspapers declared that “the era of King Trump is over” and “the empire is cracking.” Analysts questioned how much Congress can change trade, security, and immigration policy, and worried that a weakened Trump could become more confrontational. In Venezuela, some people hoped Democrats would press for elections, political freedoms, democratic reforms, and transparency around oil revenues and U.S. financial agreements. Tibisay Sáiza said Democrats could investigate Caribbean military strikes, deportations to El Salvador and other third countries, mass deportations, tariffs, Cuba policy, and Venezuela deals, though Trump retains major foreign-policy and enforcement powers.

Ukrainians expressed hope that Democratic control of both chambers could make more U.S. funding available and prevent sanctions on Russia from being relaxed, although Congress will not take control until January and Ukraine still faces a difficult winter. Ukraine Forum analyst Olga Tokariuk said people in Kyiv felt genuine hope after the election. The complication is that Trump could veto any congressional effort to increase aid. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the results were bad for U.S.-Russian relations, while a Russian state newspaper predicted that Trump’s anger could fall on Europe and become a blow to Ukraine.

New Yorker writer Ishan Tharoor argued that U.S. decisions have consequences far beyond America, citing the “Iran war,” whose economic effects and inflation were felt more severely by distant countries than by Americans. He said the election would shape Iran’s brinkmanship, Putin’s approach to Ukraine, and the ability of a Democratic Congress to place guardrails on Trump. Beijing is likely preparing for a decades-long rivalry with the United States, while Moscow may rush to reach an arrangement with Trump before a future Democratic administration. Tharoor linked defeats of right-wing allies in Brazil, Hungary, and Serbia to a cross-border ideological feedback loop, but said European far-right parties have kept their distance from Trump and may learn that anti-immigrant politics can eventually produce decisive backlash.

Tharoor said some countries—especially the Baltic states, Poland, and nations near Russia—would like the return of a dependable Cold War-era American ally. But the rapid swings from Obama to Trump to Biden to Trump, followed by the midterm result, have convinced governments that the world order is changing and America is no longer an unquestioned global “leviathan.” Countries are therefore developing their own security arrangements and hedging against uncertainty rather than assuming long-term U.S. stability. He also suggested that center-left European parties need not imitate far-right nativism, because the American experience showed that xenophobic politics and fear-mongering can ultimately lose support.

A report from Barcelona followed flamenco singer Tomás Perrate, who combines the form’s anguished vocals, guitar, and complex hand-clapped rhythms with experimental sounds. The story recalled how Paco de Lucía’s 1973 hit “Between Two Waters” was attacked by purists for using an accessible four-beat pop rhythm, even though it became a smash. Perrate, descended from a traditional flamenco family, says his grandfather and father sang differently and that critics can “go f*** themselves.” In his late 40s, he closed the hair salon he had kept alongside music after his daughter challenged him to commit. He now says all music shares one essential element: the groove.

Argentine President Javier Milei told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, “We’re not going to regulate artificial intelligence. We’re going to let it run free,” while courting investors to build data centers in Patagonia. Supporters say the region offers cold weather for cooling, wind for electricity, and remote sites where machinery noise would bother fewer residents; Milei’s government is also reducing corporate taxes because investors are wary of Argentina’s unstable economy. Polish renewable-energy company Green Capital has announced a $3 billion data center for 2028. Critics warn that the project could bring heavy water, energy, and land use as well as mass surveillance and cyberattack risks, turning Argentina into a laboratory for technologies that richer countries may not permit.

Transportation correspondent Jeremy Siegel reported that a Wizz Air flight from London to Bulgaria was escorted by a Hungarian fighter jet to Budapest after a Monday threat; the plane was cleared after no credible danger was found. The next day, seven more flights—including Ryanair, Scandinavian Airlines, and routes involving Lisbon, Rome, London, Warsaw, Spain, and Dublin—received anonymous email threats within hours. Several diverted or made emergency landings under military escort, and all landed safely. Aviation intelligence officer Matthew Borey said copycats were unlikely because of the speed and coordination; possible explanations include Russian or Iranian-style hybrid warfare or activism, including climate activism. He stressed these remain hypotheses, but warned that coordinated disruptions to travel and food supplies may increase as AI makes attacks easier.

The Santa Cruz Health Center survived Hurricane Melissa because a WHO Smart Hospital project had added an industrial-grade zinc roof, metal shutters, a covered walkway, and tens of thousands of gallons of water storage. Melissa, intensified by unusually warm oceans, produced winds above 200 miles per hour, killed 45 people, displaced thousands, and destroyed more than 100 nearby health centers. Black River Hospital, only 10 miles from landfall and lacking those upgrades, was nearly destroyed; nurse Michaelia Fuller described broken windows, flying zinc, alarms, and days trapped inside. Jamaica is now using measures such as hurricane straps, generators, and water backup as renovation standards, though the Santa Cruz work cost $500,000–$1 million and may not withstand stronger future storms.

Kirstie McLeod, who learned embroidery in Nigeria while growing up in a globe-trotting family, began the Red Dress project in 2009. Over 14 years, she sent burgundy silk panels and a loose invitation to create designs expressing identity and culture to contributors in 51 countries. Colombia’s Catalina Sanchez embroidered a toucan, flowers, and palm leaves; others added an Irish shamrock, the words “woman life freedom” from Iran, South African rural life, and Japanese cherry blossoms, a kimono, and characters for fortune, congratulations, and dream. In all, 380 people produced a nearly 15-pound gown using cotton, silk, sequins, paper, shell, wool, and beads. McLeod refuses requests to lend it for weddings or even a princess’s coronation: only embroiderers may wear it.

New York Times Rome bureau chief Motoko Rich described traveling with Pope Leo XIV on chartered commercial aircraft, where journalists sit in ordinary seats and can see his white cap through the curtain. Between 60 and 120 international reporters may be aboard, and Leo formally greets them, shakes every hand, and—despite his reserved public style—answers questions extemporaneously. Crew members are told not to ask favors, to address cardinals as “eminenza” and bishops as “excellenza,” and to keep the Pope’s bathroom spotless; everyone is instructed to find a way to fulfill requests rather than simply say no. Journalists take the Velcroed cloth seat covers embroidered with the papal coat of arms and the multi-page business-class menus as souvenirs. Rich said reporters were especially concerned because Leo had lung surgery less than four weeks before a planned 15-hour South America flight.