Europe Today: Trump loses Congress. Will he now be even more unpredictable?

Good morning, it's Thursday, November 5th, you're watching Euronews, and this is Europe Today. Our top stories. Democrats seized control of the U.S. Congress in yesterday's midterm elections, capturing both the Senate, where they gained at least seven seats, and the House of Representatives. It was a stunning nationwide rejection of Donald Trump, set to put the brakes on the final two years of his presidency. The democratic landslide will give the party the power to block legislation, launch broad investigations into Trump's administration, and torpedo his judicial and senior government appointments. A cyber attack on several blood banks in France sought to raise temperatures to extremely high levels, but was thwarted before it could do any damage to blood products or harm patients in hospitals. The incident comes after supermarkets in several European countries reported that their fridges and freezers warmed up after they were remotely taken over, resulting in tons of spoiled food at a total cost of millions of euros. And, Iranian lawmakers have threatened missile strikes on European countries hosting US military bases, including Germany and Italy. Europe's assistance to America for an attack on Iran would have consequences, a member of the country's national security committee told Euronews. Meanwhile, government supporters hung a banner outside the German embassy in Tehran, saying Europe will pay the price for supporting Israel. Welcome to the program, I'm Stefan Grobe. The 2026 midterms will go down as one of the most sweeping repudiations of a sitting president in modern American history. Republican losses were so deep, so wide, so everywhere that it would be weird to see this as anything but a massive repudiation of Trump, his agenda, his style, his rhetoric, and his presidency. Republicans are left with two more years of riding a very unpopular leader managing a very unpopular war. Will this kill the party of Reagan and Bush for years to come? Joining me now from Washington is political analyst and best-selling author Eric Hem. Good morning to you. It's good to be here. Thanks so much for having me. So Trump lost much of his power and influence, but a trapped and embarrassed Trump could be even more unpredictable. How do you think he's going to react? That is a really good question. We do know that President Donald Trump already is coming across as consummatory. However, as you say, he does have two years left in office, and we know President Donald Trump likes to be the center of attention. And so I think he will use these last two years to do everything he can to make sure that he is at the forefront, even if it is for good or even for bad. Republicans in Congress will be a mostly old and mostly white minority caucus facing a younger and more diverse Democratic majority. Are Republicans now staring down potentially years of political insignificance? Well, look, if you go back to 2024, President Donald Trump made tremendous strides and inroads with African-American voters, Latino voters, and young people. Those were seen as the third rail of politics that were always seen as no-go zones for Republicans. However, President Donald Trump was able to... Break into those into those key communities. And many thought that that would lay the groundwork for a generation of new Republicans to submit their gains for years to come. However, we see just two years later, Democrats have actually clawed those gains back. And what it makes clear is these are voters that are up for grabs. And what people want more than anything are results. And look, now we're heading into the all important 2028 presidential election. Where the White House now is in line, and so voters have to make, I mean, so these lawmakers now are on the, they are auditioning for that, and they have to actually make gains in order to keep those voters in line. Eric, let's talk about Texas for a second, where Republicans lost the races for senator, governor, attorney general, lieutenant governor, even railroad commissioner, and numerous congressional seats. What does this tell us about the presidential election in 2028? Well, many now believe that Texas could be in play. We're talking in an electoral rich state that has always been the anchor of Republican presidential politics. Now, if Democrats can actually flip Texas and they believe that they can, this could actually shape the presidential election and put a massive, massive number of electoral votes in the hands of Democrats. But Republicans are not going to go down without a fight. I think they are going to do everything they can to actually swing Texas back. But again, it will depend largely on how the new governor and, of course, a new Democratic-controlled Congress responds to economic anxiety throughout the country. All right. Political analyst Eric Hamm, thank you very much for your insights. The US midterm elections were more than a political verdict on Donald Trump. They could also reshape the economic landscape of the world's largest economy. From Wall Street to the dollar, from interest rates to global trade, investors are watching closely what's going to happen now that Trump is weakened, and what that means for their money. So, what should investors expect, especially in Europe? Earlier, I spoke to Xavier Volatier, head of Transatlantic Private Wealth, the U.S. branch of the French Banque Transatlantique. And I wanted to know whether the midterms could be a game changer for European investors. Here's what he said. Congress will probably try to work things around AI, especially. That's the matter that we most heard of. And that's probably the biggest changes that we're going to see in the upcoming weeks and months compared to the previous Congress we had here in the U.S. That should not be too much of a difference. I mean, the biggest difference we experienced the last few years were regarding the visas. I don't see many changes there, at least for the very soon. Next time, we're going to see that in the next few months, I mean. So after that blue democratic wave, markets could reassess growth expectations, bond yields and the dollars trajectory. What would be the repercussions of such developments for Europe? Obviously, we saw that overnight. I think it's already turning around a little bit. And the main repercussion for Europe, I guess it's going back to your previous question also, is, again, we see a tremendous growth in AI sector. And I think it's going to keep going for many years. And we experienced that as a wealth management team here in the U.S., affiliated to a French bank, as you know. So we experienced. There's more and more demand from U.S. clients willing to invest in Europe on a more personal side, obviously. But that's I think that's dragging a lot of growth in Europe also, especially in real estate. And the Republicans lost the election partly because of deep seated economic insecurity. Is American optimism still the driving force behind their economy? Definitely. Definitely. I mean, I've been here for now 10 years. I studied here a little bit. I know you lived here also. And I think that's the key component of the US. I mean, Americans stay optimists. And that's the main difference I experience every time I go back to Europe. Honestly, that's the thing that struck me every time. And I think that even if we are facing tough time here in the US on inflation again, Still, I mean, people are able to find jobs. Their unemployment rate is still very low, and that contributes to that optimism. And what would you advise a European investor who is heavily exposed to U.S. markets? Stay the course, hedge against political risk, or diversify? I guess the key, as always, is diversification. You know, you experienced that the other way around two years ago, when we saw tremendous requests from U.S. investors to diversify in currency, in assets, where we all witnessed the European market going up even in a larger number than U.S. markets last year. And I think that's also true the other way around. Diversification will always take the key. Xavier Volatier, head of Transatlantic Private Wealth in New York. Europe is also still digesting yesterday's landslide results from the US midterm elections and what it all might mean for Europe and the war in Ukraine. Efforts to bring the war to an end have regained ground in recent weeks, with the Finnish president and Norwegian prime minister even holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Let's bring in our NATO correspondent Shona Murray, who is in Helsinki, where she's been talking to several officials about what might lie ahead. Good morning, Shona. Firstly, what's the reaction been to the sweeping win for the Democrats? Well, good morning, Stefan. And of course, it's very early to say exactly what will happen. But there is a bit of optimism that perhaps Donald Trump, because of the nature of the win, will have to listen to Congress more and maybe things like the Lindsey Graham Act, which applies sanctions on Russia, that that might be implemented. Or, crucially, I heard to speak to some officials close to the foreign policy brief who say that perhaps there'll be a reshuffle in the White House administration and you could see Pete Hegseth, the current Secretary of War or of Defense, that he might be removed and replaced. And he has a very confrontational relationship with Europe. So that's some of the optimism. Stefan? I understand there's another round of talks today on Ukraine. What can we expect here? Well, indeed, those talks are a prelude to next week's talk between Russia, Ukraine, and the U.S. in Abu Dhabi. Now, they're technical and political. And what I heard from NATO allies just this morning is that one of the discussions will be the urgent need for Ukraine to have access to Patriot interceptor missiles. There's a major stockpile shortage of these. And SACEUR, the NATO chief military officer, is calling for seven countries within NATO to give them to Ukraine immediately. But those countries are resisting because unless they can get guarantees of repeal, Thank you very much. Or potentially a prisoner swap. But that's really what the hope is for the next round of discussions. It's not really going to be an end. However, there will be talks about post-security guarantees, post-war security guarantees. In a few weeks, we'll also see Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, coming to Brussels to meet his NATO allies. So that will be a probably key moment to see what the future of in relation to this administration and relations with Europe will be. Stefan? All right, Shona Murray in Helsinki, thank you very much. Reza Pahlavi, son of the last Iranian Shah and one of the main leaders of the opposition to the Tehran regime, is in Brussels this week to lobby for more sanctions and economic pressure on Iran. Yesterday he met several members of the European Parliament. At a press conference he called on the EU to show the same resolve as it has toward Russian President Vladimir Putin by uncovering hidden assets and freezing illegal assets linked to the regime. Afterwards he spoke to Euronews' Vincenzo Genovese who asked him about the changes in Washington. Take a listen. There are many Democrats in America who also believe that the Iranian regime is a major problem. It threatens national security for the U.S. and their interests, but also look at the region and the consequences of this regime, continue a policy of blackmail by taking hostages or disturbing maritime traffic through its proxies and helping the Houthis and the conflict that exists right now in the other straits. So ultimately, whether or not the conclusion is that the job needs to be finished. Maybe a question that they all have to explore, irrespective of the composition now of the House and the Senate back in the U.S. So my ask from the EU countries is, irrespective of your own political compositions, the cause of liberty and the cause of freedom in Iran and what will lead to ultimate stability as opposed to instability depends ultimately on Iranians being able to free themselves from this regime. And that should be their main policy focus, but also what can concretely be done to actually be an element that adds more pressure on the regime, that could be extending economic sanctions, but parallel to that also have more direct support for the Iranian people, which we believe in that momentum will cause even more defections from the regime. And that's what will lead ultimately to the regime's collapse and the liberalization of Iran. But this strikes against the regime. The response of the regime, the closing of the Strait of Hormuz, which sparked a spike in the energy price, which is one of the main warnings for Europeans. What's your message to Europeans about that? The message is that when the animal is wounded and will seek revenge, allow it to continue to live. And that's exactly what's at stake here. This regime has shown that it's willing to go all the way for its own survival, not just by silencing its own citizenry. But by now, not only threatening maritime traffic, but attacking with missile attacks countries in the area and perhaps even take action beyond that. You simply cannot allow this kind of terrorist regime continue to survive and exist. And you know, most important factor in this are the people of Iran themselves who have risked their lives and are willing to die for the cause of freedom. Why not for once after 47 years abandon the idea of appeasement? And negotiations thinking that that will offer you a guarantee of stability and bet on the Iranian people as the element that will bring in the element of stability because we are committed to the same values of liberty and freedom as you are and enjoying it here in Europe. This regime doesn't. This regime executes everybody that stands for human rights and freedom in Iran. Europe has a tradition of standing with democracy and freedom. Why not today recognize that this regime will never be. A reliable partner is only trying to buy time, take advantage of weakness in leadership and decision-making, whereas people every day are risking life and limb to say, we are your solution. Why don't you come to our help? Because we are going to fight the fight. Help us get to a point that we can securely come back to the streets and reclaim our country. This is the specific elements that will make a difference in how soon Iran can be liberated, as opposed to drag the conflict even further. Reza Pahlavi speaking to Vincenzo Genovese. A new warning about Europe's vulnerability to cyber attacks. From supermarket refrigeration systems across the continent to blood bank facilities in France, hackers are increasingly targeting the digital systems that keep our societies running and potentially putting lives at risk. Is this just cybercrime, or are we witnessing a new front in hybrid warfare against Europe? Joining me now is Professor Kevin Caron, cyber security expert at Ulster University in the UK. Good morning to you. Good morning. So what exactly are hackers doing? How can someone sitting behind a computer remotely take control of a supermarket's refrigerators or blood bank's cooling systems? Yes, these operational technologies are becoming more common. Especially in the wake of COVID, where a lot of technicians were not able to travel to remote sites. Therefore, it seemed to be easier to install remote monitoring systems as well, which can be logged into remotely. You're able to check the temperature, able to control the temperature. And of course, these fridges, again, need evaporation circuits turned on daily, actually, to run so that the fridge It doesn't become, I stop, of course. Now, you know, on paper, it's a good idea, of course, but the fact is these were very weak. The controllers that are used to be able to log into from anywhere in the world, Um, that. that one of them, for instance, doesn't have any updates for basically 10 years, the other one for five years. The flaws have been known for a number of years, the way that you can log in remotely without even needing to authenticate. And yet, of course, a few last month in France, again, fridges were attacked. And then this week, fridges were attacked again. So lessons were not learned the first time. On this note, so supermarket refrigerators are hardly considered critical infrastructure, yet their failure can cause millions of euros in losses. Have companies underestimated the cybersecurity risks of everyday technology? Yeah, unfortunately, it seems not that people have to consider and companies, of course, you know, does anything that can be connected to the Internet, should it be in cases like this best practice in cybersecurity was not handled. Quite often the default passwords were never changed again. They didn't use any kind of what we call a VPN for good practice to access these units as well. So in fact, there were so many things wrong and it is not a sophisticated attack. In this case, AI was not used. But it's worth noting in the last week, we have seen a dramatic... rise in cyber attacks as we speak, unprecedented actually. We have this common database which is shared around the world by all the technology companies. Whenever an exploit is found, like in this case, this would have been recorded many years ago, it goes into a database. Ten years ago, this database, the average number per month of exploits that were found was about 30 to 40. Last month, This common vulnerable exploitation database added a new 17,060 attacks. All right, Kevin Curran, professor for cybersecurity at Ulster University, Thank you for helping us understand the issue. And that does it for us today. Thank you for watching. I'm Stefan Grobe. Take care and see you tomorrow.