Shashi Tharoor declares Trump a lame duck after midterms.

Indian MP and former UN diplomat Shashi Tharoor has declared United States President Donald Trump a lame duck following the results of the 2026 midterm elections.

Speaking to ANI News on Thursday, Tharoor said the shift in the composition of the U.S. Senate would make it difficult for Trump to secure support for major legislative initiatives.

"US President Donald Trump has become what they call a lame duck," Tharoor said.

"That is, now he cannot take any new major legislative initiative because he will find it very difficult to get a majority."

Tharoor pointed to the appointment process for ambassadors as a concrete example.

"Even in the American system, if you want to appoint an Ambassador, that Ambassador has to be confirmed by the Senate," Tharoor explained.

"The Senate now is in the hands of the Democrats who are not going to oblige Mr Trump."

The term "lame duck" traditionally refers to an officeholder whose power is diminished because their successor has already been elected or because they have lost the ability to pass legislation.

In the U.S. system, the Senate plays a critical role in confirming presidential appointments, ratifying treaties, and approving major legislation.

When the opposing party controls the Senate, the president's domestic agenda typically faces significant hurdles.

However, Tharoor cautioned against assuming the election results would significantly curtail Trump's powers, particularly in foreign policy.

"But short of that, you can call President Trump a lame duck in those domestic areas, but short of that kind of thing, he can do what he likes," Tharoor said.

"Not everything that the President is able to do is circumscribed by congressional approval."

"He still has a lot of freedom."

"The President of the US has a kind of power that in our country is not available constitutionally to any one person."

The distinction between domestic and foreign policy powers is a key feature of the U.S. constitutional system.

While Congress controls the purse strings and must approve treaties, the president serves as commander in chief of the armed forces and has broad authority to conduct diplomacy.

This means Trump retains significant latitude to shape U.S. foreign policy, negotiate with foreign leaders, and direct military operations.

Tharoor also addressed what the midterm results mean for India.

He said New Delhi would continue to engage with the same Trump administration and should not assume the election outcome would bring a major change in bilateral dealings.

"In foreign policy, we will be negotiating with the same Trump administration we already know," Tharoor said.

"These are the people that we have to deal with and I think we should have no illusions about how much has changed for India because of this."

The midterm elections, held on November 3, 2026, saw Democrats gain control of the U.S. Senate.

According to exit polls analyzed by Yahoo News, the Republican Party suffered significant losses across multiple demographics.

Young white men, a key voting bloc that had shifted toward Trump in 2024, swung 28 points toward Democrats in the 2026 midterms.

Men overall swung 36 points toward the Democratic Party.

Yahoo News described the Republican defeat as "one of its worst defeats in my lifetime, on par with the 2006 'thumping' it endured in response to then-President George W. Bush's unpopular Iraq War."

The analysis pointed to Trump's war in Iran as the primary cause of voter discontent.

"The aforementioned war in Iran, first and foremost, is clearly the cause of much discontentment toward the Trump administration," Yahoo reported.

"The war has impacted energy prices, and voters are known to punish the president's party for overlooking basic economic reality."

Widespread tariffs and excessive immigration enforcement were also cited as factors that hurt the Republican Party's standing with voters.

Tharoor suggested the election outcome could lead to an improvement in the atmosphere for Indians living in the United States.

"For Indians in America, there could be some sort of improved atmosphere," he said.