After the Wave

On November 3, 2026, American voters handed Democrats control of both houses of Congress in a wave few predicted a year earlier. Inside that wave was something newer: the first Muslim ever elected to the U.S. Senate, a surgeon who had treated the wounded in Gaza, democratic socialists who unseated long-serving incumbents, and a cohort of lawmakers who campaigned openly against unconditional military aid to Israel. For the first time since Gallup began asking in 2001, more Americans say their sympathies lie with Palestinians than with Israelis.

After the Wave asks what this shift means and what it can realistically change.

Austin Baas traces the long arc of American power in the Middle East, from Truman's recognition of Israel and the CIA's 1953 coup in Iran through the Cold War, the "special relationship," the post-9/11 wars and the catastrophe in Gaza since October 2023. He sets out, in plain and measured language, how the United States came to supply the weapons, the money and the diplomatic shield for a war that a UN Commission of Inquiry and leading human rights organizations have concluded is genocide, a charge Israel rejects.

The book then turns to the future: what a Democratic Congress can and cannot do while President Trump holds the veto pen, the legal tools already on the books, the next ten-year military aid agreement, the 2028 race, and three possible paths for American policy. A full chapter gives the strongest arguments of the alliance's defenders, so readers can weigh the case for themselves.

Grounded in sources, firm on universal human rights, and clear that opposing a state's policies is never a licence for hatred of Jews, Muslims or anyone else, After the Wave is a guide for anyone trying to understand where America is heading next.