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 mops 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 course. of our life there's a. deal is going. democrats. republicans produce. the character of our nation is on the path we're not

playing. for millions is on the ballot. box you up that's an invitation that's. for working families is on the path. to speak up for the. you know. the most important election. for the. 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. ok delish 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 didn'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 has 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 a referendum on the trump presidency. will a blue wave of 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. new term elections here but you knew. that it was going to be tomorrow night starting at right here just

a little bit after midnight here central european time will right now with a big table i'm joined by dr and the reason he is head of the u.s. a transatlantic 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 the for the transatlantic world on this election and it's a question in how far the notrump. donald trump's policies of disruption and reshuffling and by literalism are supported by this mid-term elections most people in the u.s. don't vote over foreign policy but it's a question of whether he he sees a challenge to his own policy style 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 these

like inflammatory rhetoric. all whether he sees an s s a t two to use outside conflicts to actually at his beck free to operate and to to look strong but it is this 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 tomorrow 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 u.s. president but this time trump is president and he has told the voters to consider every ballot decision a referendum on him here's what. 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 as they are every two years republicans currently hold two hundred thirty five to 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 fury among voters will deliver them to the house so all eyes are on the thirty or so toss ups races 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 are in. 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 the 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 of 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 but 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 there might be in in the party a position that actually asks for more common ground and. compromise german chancellor angela merkel she was the first western leader to congratulate belmont trump two years ago when he won and two conditional lies that 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 populist agenda people who act in his in his spirit or maybe he's acting in this period like steve benen they're going out to to like do networking and build the media structures for the far right and for the for the populist parties in europe but we don't need america to have that 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 that's how a democracy should run when 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 stand by 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 would 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. because these disasters are inflicted on the people by our government i don't recall and the thousand tramps can't do anything to us. i mean. the effects are felt beyond the bazaar with iran's oil and finance sector major international companies are withdrawing from tehran at this advertising business they have had to sack several staff. that's really heartbreaking it's heartbreaking for the people that we talk to to say that i'm so sorry there is no business and therefore if there's no business i cannot if you

would job they've studied they're excited about what they want to do in the future . now 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 recovery. will see what happens with the run but they're not doing very well i can tell you iran is not doing very well but iran shows little sign of bending a defiant president hassan rouhani pledge to ignore the sanctions. this is an economic war we are standing up to the billing enemy yes that he said 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 here ran 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 given 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 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 the expectation in washington is that either. the. the government will falter and will will actually bow to the sanctions which is unlikely iranians and nationalistic they might hate their government but they hate external. influence even more and secondly the idea that there will be a democratic up. a ballistic addendum ready democratic change of power and this

will not have happen either the opposition doesn't have strong leading figures there are so many things connected to the leading and governing structures in iran that will take over power so that is the question now it's more complex a bit because they have. 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 joking advised 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 cheeseman. 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 states we cannot force our companies to do business with iran and leave the business and in 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 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 but they they might have something to offer to iran that is not so much affected by the sanctions before we run out of time want to ask you about these sanctions we already know that 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 truck pulling 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 would not simply drop that and so he might might have chosen a way to avoid kind of a. 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 reading the reports tonight is that proof that the the trump administration is is is is feeling the pressure of reality they are ryall politic in realpolitik in 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 simply state 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 mystery has always repeat it you joining us here on the day of sharing your insights thank you very much over the 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 truck 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. 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. ana maria is female latina and a democrat not an easy combination in conservative texas. i had somebody who talked about slavery slavery was ok those are hard conversations to have and they can respect the individual they're giving you their time and you just say thank you we'll agree to disagree and then you move on. ana marie as 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 enemies list supports women like anna 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 he doesn't he doesn't take a hard alpha male i'm all about you know alpha male and he did i don't want. happy or 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 the issue here otherwise is because the media is of are with the democrat party in this country that me very are anti american and they are anti trial because everyone to do well two worlds that seem incompatible and in the final days before us midterm elections both are fighting to gain ground. well 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 l. g.b.t. friendly league is thriving in its second year it's called league eight and it 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 a safe space for non straight out fleets in brazil's favorite sport football has traditionally been associated throughout latin america with a culture of much cheese 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. because they said i went two years without playing soccer because i couldn't find the team then i found out they were gay teams so i don't want to go back into the closet because of prejudice from straight members of a team that location. 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 have come out and been out. there you don't know what he's going to take this enjoyment away from me we are the resistance. a club team from mina's your rise in southeast brazil where the big winners of the tournament called by the way the champions league game. and tomorrow is another day we'll see that

everybody. the. mysterious sinkhole. along the shores of the didn't seem. to have appeared with more coming every day. israeli researchers have learned to predict the perilous things now they're working on an early warning system forcing

callers tomorrow to ditch next d.w. . some love. others hate him like those. like you disappointed supporters still back donald trump got fifty. two years after his election we take stuff cause. us say the trump phenomenon. the five minutes for double. click event. your link time news from africa and the world showing us on facebook at g w africa. enter the conflict zone with tim

sebastian. i'll be challenging those in power asking tough questions demanding of seems. as conflicts intensify i'll be meeting with key players on the ground. in the centers of our cutting through the rhetoric holding the powerful to account facts the conflicts. conflict zone with tim sebastian on t.w. . hello and welcome to tomorrow today coming up. small miracles researchers peek inside thirty million year old insect fossils and unlock secrets from the past. big plans for curing genetic diseases and eliminating hunger.