when he appeared to downplay violence against migrants. in just a few hours the world will witness the u.s. midterm election american democracy in all its by neary brutality republicans versus democrats blue states versus red states jobs and loss tonight two presidents are closing out the campaign one with a plea to trust in the truth the other with promises propped up with everything but i'm burnt off in berlin this is the day. this is what the court telling us there is a contest of ideas. democrats. and republicans pick up the character of our nation is all that we're not

playing. for millions is all. that stuff that's. unfair for working families is on the path. to be speaking for the next. you know. what is the most important election. of course. also coming up tonight brazil has a president elect who is openly homophobic now that won't play well on the soccer pitch in sao paolo a new soccer league has kicked off with the message if you're gay you can play. they said i went two years without playing soccer because i couldn't find the team then i found out they were gay teams i don't want to go back into the closet

because of prejudice from straight members of a team. or we begin the day on the eve of an election the likes of which modern america has never see tomorrow voters go to the polls in the two thousand and eighteen midterm elections now midterm elections tend to be the stepchild of those all important presidential elections but that tradition no along with many others in u.s. politics has little or no relevance now that donald trump is president voters may be choosing a new congress tomorrow but trump has told them in no uncertain terms this election is all about him well that is why tuesday's poll is widely seen as a referendum on donald trump's administration and not everyone is happy with his america first widespread dissatisfaction beyond his base as fueled a surge in women and minority candidates running for office they could make history

in congressional and in state gubernatorial elections. or what is at stake for the rest of the world in the u.s. midterm elections what should germany in europe be prepared to do if the balance of power in washington shifts the w. news will tackle those and more questions tomorrow night we will be right here live with real time coverage as the election results come in take a look. in the u.s. midterm elections a battle for control of the u.s. congress and a referendum on the trump presidency. will a blue wave the democrats shift the balance of power and what's at stake for europe and the more. join me on election night for our special coverage of the u.s. midterm elections here on d.w. news. that is going to be tomorrow night starting right here just

a little bit after midnight here central european time will right now with a big table i'm joined by dr had he really he is head of the usa trans-atlantic relations program at the german council on foreign relations mr it is good to have you back on the show so we're all having we're on this side of that big pond looking at these elections i mean from where we're sitting what do the what do the mid-term elections mean and what's at stake for for the transatlantic world on this election and it's a question in how far will trump. donald trump's policies of disruption and reshuffling and bilateralism are supported by this mid-term elections most people in the us don't vote over foreign policy but it's a question of whether he sees a challenge to his own policies. whether he finds it necessary to to focus on the kind of civil war that he that he restarts every day and you with all the

inflammatory rhetoric. or whether he sees a necessity to to use outside conflicts to actually have his back free to operate and to to look strong but this is going to be. mostly about america mostly about how the strongest democracy the leading democracy is actually surviving this crisis i want to pick up on that point right now it's more u.s. voters will choose a new congress midterm elections are usually as we said all about those political races that have nothing to do with the us president but this time trump is president and he has told the voters to consider every ballot decision a referendum on him. the midterms are first and foremost about congress and they can make or break

a president's agenda republican control of both the house of representatives and the senate has made trump's life relatively easy so far but if democrats flip one or even both houses the good times may be over the entire house all four hundred thirty five seats are up for election and they are every two years republicans currently hold two hundred thirty five democrats one hundred ninety three seats that's a lot of distance to the two hundred eighteen majority mark but democrats hope that the slew of republicans leaving their seats this year along with enough anti trump curium on voters'. well deliver them to the house so all eyes are on the thirty or so toss ups graces that polling data have is too close to call on the senate side republicans rule with the slimmest of majorities fifty one of one hundred seats sounds like good news for democrats but only thirty five seats of those are up for election most twenty six are ones democrats and independents allied with them need

to defend that makes victory harder polling data suggest maybe just six seats in all are toss ups as the minority party democrats have been limited in effectively resisting trump but what if they win in both the house and senate they could block his agenda and introduce their own they could investigate the myriad allegations of abuse and misconduct facing trump in the senate democrats could reject trump appointees up for important positions and they could impeach a long and fraught process that starts in the house and ends in the senate democrats have history on their side as the president's party usually suffers in the midterms whether that trend stays true won't be clear until ballots. democrats do have history on their side this time would a shift in the balance of power in washington would that be something positive for the transatlantic world. i think it would be because it would prove that american

democracy is able to. actually confront those those attacks that the president is now running and he's trying to undermine every institution he's trying to. go around the norms that would tie him down he's been deviling the media he's demonizing the political opponent and we need to come back to a situation where the respect for the political opponent is the software of democracy and it doesn't look like this as of now but it needs the democrats to come back strong and to find a new narrative for their own view that there are you have the predictions that if the democrats do take the hells not even the senate but if they take the house then immediately they are going to take steps to increase oversight of the president and the executive branch. is that important in the eyes of europeans just to see that the american system of checks and balances is robust and does

indeed work even if it's been tested the way it has the past two years it will be a necessary part of that this doesn't remove the polarization as we have right now if the democrats then choose to to use this have been up hours and to call on the president for every every missed misdeeds he's done. it will of course call for a very harsh reaction from trump and would he would ask the loyalty of the republicans so it would be very difficult the democrats couldn't bring over any any legislative project so everything will be blocked down but it will be a situation in which possibly the republicans will understand that this president and his style don't win them enough votes the next time so they might be in in the party of position that actually asks for more common ground and compromise german chancellor angela merkel she was the first western leader to congratulate donald trump two years ago when he won. and two conditional lies congratulations she said

congratulations don't forget the values that we share. he has never gotten over that it seems do you see him taking advantage of the uncertainty now here in germany because we know that merkel for all intents and purposes could be a lame duck chancellor do you see him taking advantage of that situation i think so yes because he is. pushing forward a populists agenda people who act in his in his spirit or maybe he's acting in this period like they've been they're going out to to like do networking and build a media structures for the far right and for the for the populist parties in europe but we don't need america to have the problem and i think what we see now is a replacement of one leader by the next with

a little bit of reshuffling and discussions in between but this is very very peaceful and that's how a democracy should run what we see right now and so i don't think that actually this is this is a situation of of awful weakness and fragility that he can he can make use of well mr standby we're going to move now from the domestic u.s. politics who want to focus now on u.s. foreign policy today the u.s. reimposed what it is calling the toughest sanctions yet against iran and we follow is the trump white house decision to abandon the iran nuclear deal the white house says that the new sanctions are designed to curtail any ambitions that tehran may have regarding nuclear weapons iran today accused the u.s. of being a bully saying that the sanctions target ordinary people what tonight the european union is standing by its opposition to washington's policy we have a look now at the economic sectors which will feel the impact first and most

iranian markets like this are where economic reality rubs up against real lives the mere threat of sanctions has seen fit prices here double in just a year shuttered store fronts speak to the hardship. anger though is directed closer to home how all of you could be because these disasters are inflicted on the people by our government i don't recall and the thousand troops can't do anything to us. i mean. the effects are felt beyond the bazaar with iran's oil and finance sectors. that's really heartbreaking it's heartbreaking for the people that we talk to to say that look i'm so sorry there is no business and therefore if there's no business i cannot give you a job they've studied they're excited about what they want to do in the future. now how hope is being taken away from them the man behind the sanctions u.s.

president donald trump hopes they will maximize pressure on iran iran sanctions are very strong the strongest sanctions result ever of. we'll see what happens with the iran but they're not doing very well i can tell you iran is not doing very well but to run shows little sign of bending a defiant president hassan rouhani pledge to ignore the sanctions. this is an economic war we're standing up to a billion enemy yes that he said on hussein was in front of us today it is trump there is no death. and talking tough and testing their military hardware to. these drills designed to send a message. up the rhetoric in a bed to stop economic hardship from turning into anti regime sentiment. back here at the big table now with an ing reka he is head of the usa

trans-atlantic relations program of the german council of foreign relations with this slapping of new sanctions on iran the u.s. really is now in a go it alone policy when it comes to iran and it leaves europe in a very difficult position doesn't it it does because europe has an interest to do this together with america we had the greatest success of pressure on iran when we did this together and now. in an irony iran has achieved one of its most supreme goals that is to divide the west and divide europe and america and now we have that we have to do. with russia and china to make this a big about that do you think especially the european union do you think that they have tried to impress that upon the u.s. president that he is actually doing exactly what the regime in tehran wants him to

do and that is to pull away from europe do you think they've said hey don't fall into the trap i think they wanted to make make clear that this has been the diplomatic achievement of the european union and if you simply can can can run down the building that we have created it's also stupid because it was the one structure that helped us to to have inspections in iran take a closer look so i think the expectation in washington is that either. the. government will falter and will will actually bow to the sanctions which is unlikely iranians are nationalistic they might hate their government but they hate external. influence even more and secondly the idea that there will be a democratic up. lifting of the rhetoric democratic change of power and this will not have happen either the opposition doesn't have strong leading figures there are so many thousands connected to the leading governing structures in iran that will

take over power so that is the question now it's more complex a bit because they have a an ailing sick supreme leader rouhani the president might might be a candidate for replacing him although he's been weakened of course has been just a little raised to look stronger no but this will take a very long time longer than two years and longer than six years if you ask me so if there is any success or any any reader later on it will not be trump doing we know that europe and the european union has said that it wants to help iran bypass these sanctions if at all possible or at least protect european companies that are invested in iran doesn't have the means to do that and should that be its policy i think the first starting point of that is to keep iran in the agreement because this has been an achievement not only that but it is

a structure that helps us control iran now. we have to offer some sort of compensation for the sanctions the e.u. and germany and the european says we cannot force our companies to do business with iran. and leave the business and america this is not possible we cannot force the banks to not a trade in dollars you know this is not possible so it's about the small and medium sized companies that are doing business in iran and they want to have ways to finance that and they want to have new banking banking systems too to get their payments or pay their bills and this is what we're doing it's a very very very moderate compensation that we can possibly offer i think more is coming from russia and and china where some companies are state companies some are more more independent but they they might have something to offer to iran that is not so much affected by the sanctions as a form of time when i ask you about these sanctions we already know there are

exemptions to these u.s. say actions for example for turkey for india and for china they are still going to be able to buy iranian oil no problem so isn't that kind of taking the teeth out of these sanctions then is it trump holding back from what he promised to do with the sanctions you might have understood that they would have done this anyway so. at least for china and india i would assume that because they rely so heavily on. oil imports and their partnership with iran is so deeply rooted and substantial billions of dollars they wouldn't simply drop that and so he might might have chosen a way to avoid kind of a. where do you see i mean as we've all you know we've also had reports like from the state department u.s. state department this evening saying that a lot of the agreements that were in the parts of the agreement to the iran nuclear

deal suddenly now are back on an. we were just wondering at reading those reports tonight is that proof that the trump administration is is is is feeling the pressure of reality the reaal politic in real political foreign policy is finally hitting it in the face i think why trump is doing that is because he wants to live up to his complaint promises and he wants to look a tough guy and. you know it's much more complicated to explain whether this works or not than the simplest they look what i've done to the iranians they are thugs and i and i hate them and this is what i'm doing i'm serious you know and i think this is enough for now and they might they might. try to build up background channels to to get a feel whether the iranians are coming over the bridge or not which will not happen in my in my understanding so quickly. but i think. this is

a. blockade for a couple of years to come with sanctions working with iranians offering any we go with the german council on foreign relations mr reagan's always we appreciate you joining us here on the day of sharing your insights thank you very much but we return to those mid-term elections in the u.s. now in the predictions that this will be the year of the women widespread dissatisfaction over the trunk presidency has fueled a surge in women and minority candidates running for public office across the u.s. now in deeply conservative texas one woman is hoping to channel that discontent into an election victory and a seat in the house of representatives or any every weekend ana maria ramos campaigns door to door in dallas texas why because she wants to convince undecided voters to go to the polls her goal is to be elected to the texas house of representatives. annamaria is female latina and

a democrat not an easy combination in conservative texas. i heard somebody who talked about slavery slavery was ok hard conversations to have been taking respect to the individual there any other time you just say thank you we'll agree to disagree and then you move on. ana marie is campaign headquarters is her own living room when trump was elected president she felt like she had to do something because his politics and image of women did not represent her as a person. i hope that is the woman when i get elected and i will when i get elected fight for young girls to be ok to speak up and i have little girls now will come to me at events and say how do i become how how how do i become a strong woman like you women's anger has been a motivating force in current politics not only is there new movement in dallas but across america as well the organization and his list supports women like ana maria

who are becoming politically active they call it a pink wave in twenty sixteen nine hundred women have registered in the u.s. after trump selection the number rose to forty two thousand but these women find the female resistance movement ridiculous the trumpets of america like to meet up at the polo club the high society ladies support trump on social media in election campaigns and with their donations they feel a call to defend their president and their own prosperity oh my god he's a guy he's a man and he doesn't he doesn't take care of alpha male i'm all about alpha male and he did not and i don't want. my little. women united for trump the president stands for their values they want a strong economy at all costs and are against immigration and abortion the world of

the trumpets is clearly structured there is one hero trump and many villains. oh so here's a man that's encouraging the entire country the only reason you hear otherwise is because the media is an arm of the democrat party in this country and that means very are anti american and they are anti troll because from points every point to do well two worlds that seem incompatible and in the final days before us mid-term elections both are fighting to gain ground. when it comes to men's soccer relatively few professional players have ever come out as gay even after their careers have ended but in football crazy brazil and the friendly league is thriving in its second year it's called league eight and

it's celebrated with a season ending tournaments over the weekend. this is not the haka the intimidating pre-match dance by new zealand's all blacks rugby team this is bright rainbow colored unabashed football joy. dancing and music are a big part of league a safe space for non straight out leads in brazil's favorite sport football has traditionally been associated throughout latin america with a culture of much ease mo and players here are unafraid to point out traditional lines they've heard like that first one i don't share a locker room with again the odds are that players here share locker rooms and the pitch with gays trans and bisexual the football is quality we provide a space to practice without fear without homophobia and without fear of discrimination. that i went two years without playing soccer because i couldn't find the team then i found out they were gay teams that want to go back into the

closet because of prejudice from straight members of a team. some of these players have benefited from brazil's same sex marriage laws in effect since two thousand and thirteen. but they are acutely aware of an environment altered by last month's election of a right wing populist president still league a has plans to expand its sixteen team nationwide league reaching out further to those who've come out and been out. i mean i know what he's going to take this enjoyment away from me we are the resistance. a club team from miniature rise in southeast brazil where the big winners of the tournament called by the way the champions league. and tomorrow is another day we'll see that everybody.

meticulously composed. and snapped just at the right moment to. find extraordinary photography and death camps for the past like sean. almost too stunned to be revealed through the viewfinder all seriousness me. next. to god.

makes me late equaliser lasting shock. munich only manager against. gold those spirits must be such when i still can't get a game just running from. sixty minutes to d.w. . i'm not laughing at the germans well i guess sometimes i am but most are laughing with the. don't think deep into the german culture of. mutants to take this drama day on t.v. it's all that. new i'm rachel join me to meet again monday of course moving on

to fighting for the case taking seriously in the world of work here's what's coming . women's talk. though. for your. smart smart stay in the gym are increasingly dangerous time. for mom. hi everyone and welcome to another edition of your inbox a life that you know appears a look at what's coming up. riding high.