View: Democrats’ win won’t mean a major US-Africa shift
Semafor · Yinka Adegoke ·
Democrats may use their new congressional power to scrutinize Trump’s Africa policies, but there is little sign they have a compelling alternative.
Yinka’s view
Last night’s sweeping Democratic victory in the US midterm elections heralds a shift in vibes rather than policy.
As John “JT” Tomaszewski, the National Endowment for Democracy’s senior director for Africa, told me, African countries will “still struggle” to get on the agenda because of the competing domestic priorities battling for lawmakers’ attention following a chastening electoral rebuke to President Donald Trump. There will, however, be more scope for congressional scrutiny of his administration’s policies. Democrats will likely be keen to use hearings and investigations to revisit the dismantling of USAID and the human costs of cuts to foreign assistance.