Guardian US editor says midterm voters delivered a check on Trump's power

Editor warns press crackdown will persist into 2027, seeks $2 million

Guardian US editor Betsy Reed said voters deciding control of Congress in the 2026 midterm elections “responded in a thunderous voice” this week with the message that “there must be a check on the president’s power.” In an editor’s note published Nov. 5 under the title “US midterm voters responded in a thunderous voice. This is just the beginning,” Reed framed the results as the answer to the question she said has shadowed Trump’s presidency over the past two years: whether any check on his power exists.

Reed wrote that Americans surged to the polls from Texas to Ohio to South Carolina to register opposition to Trump and to support leaders who will look out for, in her words, “the interests of everyday people rather than those of a corrupt ruling elite.” She said many people are now looking at politics “with a new and unfamiliar feeling of hope.”

The institutional landscape before the election, in her account, was thin. Reed wrote that “there were precious few powerful institutions willing to take on Trump’s corruption and lies,” saying major law firms and universities capitulated to his threats and intimidation and that some corporate news outlets bowed to his pressure. The independent press, she argued, stood out as “one of the only forces for accountability,” uncovering truth “at a time when lies are woven into our information ecosystem.”

Looking ahead, Reed wrote that “an emboldened Congress is poised to investigate Trump and interrogate his appointees about their agenda and qualifications.” She said the Guardian’s political reporting team will examine the evidence behind allegations of corruption and wrongdoing.

Reed wrote that “a reckoning is coming,” but cautioned that Trump remains president — “the single most powerful person on the planet” — with what she described as “all the degraded norms and protections of friendly supreme court justices he had before.” She listed powers she said Trump retains: the ability to launch “destabilizing wars of choice,” to worsen “the affordability crisis with tariffs,” to “sacrifice Ukraine to Russia,” to give tech oligarchs “free rein over our humanity and our economy,” and to weaponize the Justice Department and other agencies “for his political ends.”

Based on past experience, Reed called it “highly unlikely” that Trump will respond to a midterm drubbing by moderating his political stances. With what she described as a Democratic House and Senate, she wrote, Trump’s back will be up against the wall — and “we can expect a maelstrom of fury and desperate deal-making.”

Reed warned that Trump’s crackdown on the press “shows no signs of letting up,” that consolidated ownership “means fewer options and less diversity of perspective,” and that the advent of artificial intelligence has threatened journalism’s business model, producing staff layoffs that have “gutted newsrooms.” A free press, she wrote, will be needed in 2027 as much as it was relied on in what she called the darkest days of 2025 and 2026.

The note doubles as a year-end fundraising appeal. Reed wrote that the Guardian has “no billionaire owner” and no corporate bosses who put profit over mission, and that it is accountable to “the facts and to our readers.” The outlet is looking to raise $2 million by the end of the year to fund its work in 2027, a year she said may be “a tumultuous year ahead” covering “the final throes of Trump’s presidency.”

“From reporting on the ground to fending off legal risks to keeping our reporters safe, journalism is incredibly expensive to do well,” Reed wrote. She pointed to readers who commit month after month to sustain the outlet’s independence and closed the note with an appeal: “Journalism sustains democracy. Together, we’ll sustain journalism.”