The blue tsunami sparks joy, hope and mockery in Europe

Europe is feeling more than a little bit of schadenfreude. In a stunning U.S. midterm election, Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as several governorships, winning big in Republican strongholds like South Carolina, Texas and even Kansas.

While some races were yet to be called Wednesday morning, the result is a monumental rebuke of U.S. President Donald Trump. For Europe, which has weathered Trump’s incessant verbal attacks and tariff threats for the last two years, it was a rare ray of hope in transatlantic politics — if not because Washington would become a more predictable partner, then at least because the U.S.

president might be too distracted to focus his usual ire on Europeans. European Parliament Vice President Sophie Wilmès, a former Belgian prime minister, heralded a “major shift in the balance of power in the U.S.