Midterm Elections, Trump's Personal Enrichment, And Fewer Fentanyl Deaths

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) Welcome to our press review of events in the United States. Every Wednesday we look at how the Swiss media have reported and reacted to three major stories in the US – in politics, finance and science. This content was published on November 4, 2026 - 17:00 9 minutes

I write articles on the Swiss Abroad and“Swiss Oddities” as well as weekly briefings and press reviews. I also translate, edit and sub-edit articles for the English department and do voiceover work for videos. Born in London, I have a degree in German/Linguistics and was a journalist at The Independent before moving to Bern in 2005. I speak all three official Swiss languages and enjoy travelling the country and practising them, above all in pubs, restaurants and gelaterias.

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“From Ticino, we follow American elections as a late-night spectacle, torn between admiration for the country's boundless political energy and the illusion that we can quickly make sense of its people and its politics,” wrote the Corriere del Ticino on Monday, the day before the 2026 US mid-term elections.

On Wednesday morning, Swiss media were filled with images of jubilant Democrat supporters. In a so-called blue wave, Democrats had seized control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, flipping Republican strongholds for the first time in generations as voters delivered a scathing rebuke to President Donald Trump.

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Swiss newspapers didn't mince their words after Democrats won control of Congress in the 2026 midterm elections.

“The US president and his party have suffered a colossal defeat following two years of policies deemed erratic by voters,” was the verdict of Le Temps on Wednesday morning.

“Donald Trump had promised the American people he would solve all their problems, but with the exception of border security, everything has only got worse,” wrote the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), adding that Trump had become a liability for the Republicans and the end of his era was drawing near.

“The mid-term elections have been a debacle for the unpopular US president,” wrote the Tages-Anzeiger, noting that many Latinos and African Americans had turned their backs on Trump.“As, it seems, have many farmers, because even in conservative Kansas, with its fields and tractors, a Democrat came out on top. For the first time in – wait for it – 94 years. His name is Adam Hamilton and he's a man of the church, just like James Talarico [who became the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in Texas since 1988]. Trump is therefore also losing a great many Christians. A large proportion of them have clearly had enough of the lies, the malice and the greed of him and his entourage.”

“Many Americans, dazzled by Donald Trump's macho rhetoric of omnipotence, are finally waking up,” declared the Tribune de Genève.“The Democrats, who in the past have not always been entirely above board when it came to allegations of favouritism, must learn their lesson if they are to put one of their own back in the White House in 2028.”

The NZZ agreed, warning that the Democrats shouldn't draw the wrong conclusions from their“resounding” victory, which, it said, was above all a vote against Trump.“Under Joe Biden, the Democrats interpreted their 2020 election victory as a mandate for left-wing, state-centred economic and spending policies, as well as a more relaxed immigration policy. If the Democrats wish to repeat their successes in conservative states in 2028, they must not be so quick to forget the lessons from their 2024 defeat against Trump.”

Le Temps concluded that securing a majority in both Houses of Congress will enable the Democrats to“really put a spanner in the works” for the Trump administration.“But let's remain cautious. Trump retains a great capacity to cause harm, and his adventurism in foreign policy could even become increasingly dangerous,” it said.

“The fact remains that, however much the US president may scorn Congress, the latter will do everything in its power to try to bring an end to an administration that no longer even bothers to conceal blatant cases of corruption. [Congress will also try] to bring the Epstein case back into the spotlight – a case that is far from having revealed all its secrets – and to restore the original purpose of politics: to act in the interests of the people.”

Media sources Editorials in Le TempsExternal link, the Tribune de GenèveExternal link (French, paywall), the NZZExternal link, the Tages-AnzeigerExternal link (German, paywall)

Coverage of the midterms by Swiss public broadcasters SRFExternal link, RTSExternal link, RSIExternal link (German, French, Italian)

According to 24heures, the main issue for voters in the mid-term elections was whether to punish the US president, who has been governing primarily for his own benefit since the start of his term.

“It will be a referendum on Donald Trump,” 24heures wrote in an editorial on Saturday.“More specifically, on whether he has cost Americans money or not, in a country where money remains king.”

The Lausanne newspaper explained how, eight months ago, Trump plunged the country into a war with Iran,“with an inescapable impact at the petrol pump”. His tariff policy is ultimately being paid for by the taxpayer, it added, and his promises to revive industrial employment have been slow to materialise. At the same time, he has curbed the green-economy boom in line with his climate-sceptic views.

“But what particularly frustrates many Americans is his personal enrichment, which they see as undeserved. Few begrudge Elon Musk the fortune he built through innovation and his space ventures. The Trump family's opportunism is less well received: the opaque world of cryptocurrencies, the lawsuits against the media, and the $28 million (CHF22.75 million) reportedly paid by Amazon to the First Lady for the film Melania. Not to mention the conflicts of interest and suspicions of corruption surrounding his family.”

24heures concluded that“in a society where revealing one's salary is not taboo, the gap is widening between those who are benefiting from the current economic climate and those left behind. This is fuelling resentment, even anger. The mid-term results will prove to be an excellent barometer of an America in turmoil”.

Media sources For or against Trump, richer than everExternal link – editorial in 24heures (French)

An election with consequences close to homeExternal link – editorial in the Corriere del Ticino (Italian)

Coverage of the midterms by Swiss public broadcasters SRFExternal link, RTSExternal link, RSIExternal link (German, French, Italian)

The number of fentanyl-related deaths in the US has almost halved in the space of three years. This offers a glimmer of hope, says the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), which highlights the role played by a horse tranquiliser.

While nearly 110,000 people died of a drug overdose in both 2021 and 2022, the figure had fallen to just under 71,000 by 2025. While experts are debating the reasons behind this, one thing is undisputed, according to the NZZ: the number of deaths caused by fentanyl has roughly halved over the past three years. Why? It's complicated.

“The simplest explanation could be that significantly less of this drug is entering the US,” the NZZ wrote on Saturday. But one expert told the newspaper that many addicts who engaged in risky drug use had already died and that many people nowadays no longer inject the substance but smoke it instead, reducing the risk of a fatal overdose.

Nabarun Dasgupta, a biochemist at the University of North Carolina, told the NZZ that the emergence of a veterinary medicine containing the active ingredient xylazine as an adulterant in illegal opiates had also contributed to the observed changes in consumption patterns. During the fentanyl supply shortage, drug dealers began cutting their fentanyl with xylazine or, in some cases, even replacing it almost entirely, he explained.

Xylazine is a highly potent sedative and painkiller administered, for example, to cattle and horses. The substance was first detected in 2018 during post-mortem examinations of drug-related deaths.

Xylazine is known as the zombie drug because users fall asleep while standing or stagger through the streets as if in a daze; many develop extensive, purulent skin ulcers.“Surveys in Pennsylvania and Michigan, for example, have shown that many drug users are now using drugs less frequently, in smaller quantities or in different ways, partly out of fear of these effects,” Dasgupta said.

Dasgupta is by no means convinced that a genuine reversal of the drug-death trend has already taken place – it may just be that the pandemic-induced peak has subsided – but he says he has reason to be hopeful:“Among Generation Z – that is, those under 30 – the use of hard, dangerous drugs is far less widespread than in previous generations.”

Media sources Report on drop in fentanyl-related deathsExternal link – NZZ (German, paywall)

The next edition of 'Swiss views of US news' will be published on Wednesday, November 11. See you then!

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