Well I’m sure you’ve heard by now, but let’s touch on the results of the mid-term elections.
The Republicans got schwacked. I mean, they took a beating. Democrats won control of both houses of Congress, setting up a split government for President Trump’s final two years in office. With this arrangement there will be a check on Trump’s power, but the Legislative Branch won’t be able to do a whole lot to advance its own agenda (it doesn’t have enough to override a presidential veto). So what does that mean? Lots of show-boating, grand-standing, and gridlock over the next two years. Expect the President to attempt to accomplish more through the use of Executive Orders and negotiating deals with Congress.
Congress has some powers the Executive Branch can’t block or override. It holds the power of the purse; that means Trump needs to wrap up this Iran thing before the new Congress gets sworn in this coming January, and that the new Congress can choose whether or not to fund the President’s priorities. It has investigative powers, so the next two years will likely be full of congressional inquiries and oversight hearings on such things as the legality of strikes in Iran, the actions of ICE agents, actions in Venezuela, various types of corruption, and probably some kind of cost-of-living Task Force. Congress will probably use this power to start making the next Republican Presidential nominee (likely either J.D. Vance or Marco Rubio) look bad. The Senate has the power to confirm (or not) nominees to the Supreme Court, Federal Judgeship positions, members of the Cabinet, Ambassadors, and senior Executive Branch positions. That means as vacancies are trying to be filled, the Senate is not obligated to approve anyone the President puts forward.
Congress also has the power to impeach, and they’ll likely make various attempts over the final two terms of the Trump presidency. This applies to the President and VP, Federal Executive Branch officials (like cabinet-level secretaries or undersecretaries), and Federal judges. Only the House can introduce and pass articles of impeachment. The Senate then conducts the trial, where a two-thirds majority is needed to remove the person being tried. The Senate Democrats are well short of that number, so unless a substantial number of Republicans join in voting for removal, it’s not a likely outcome. Actual removal isn’t always the goal, however. Trump has already been impeached twice, but now that he’s been through his final election as president, there’s not much benefit to impeaching him again unless there’s an infraction egregious enough that 10-15 Republicans would join in voting for removal. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is a possible impeachment target, and if that ends up being successful, Democrats might also attempt to somehow target the aforementioned Vance or Rubio.
Another interesting development is that even though there are an increasing number of extreme leftists entering the House and Senate, the Democratic majority is substantial enough that these fringe factions have less relative power than they would with only a narrow majority. The Democrats can still pass individual bills even if these groups throw a fit and try to hold the legislation hostage unless they get their way.
Both sides will probably still fail to learn the lessons they need to learn. The Democrats need to learn that even though “hating Trump” has been their go-to platform for 10 years now, that’s not going to be enough to keep power in the 2028 election. They’re going to need to govern effectively if they want to keep the seats their constituents have entrusted them with. Conversely, the Republicans need to learn that if you want to stay in power, you’ve got to focus on kitchen-table issues. Yes, they passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but that was more than a year ago. You can’t stand by and watch inflation and gas prices tick up, do nothing about it, and expect that people will re-elect you. There were a couple of laws about collegiate athletes or something, but that’s not going to help regular people afford a better life.
Over the next two years we’ll also see Presidential contenders jockey for position. While there are only two major possibilities for the Republican nominee at the moment (Vance and Rubio), the Democratic field is wide open. Both Vance and Rubio are well-spoken men and much more measured than Trump. Either one would represent a return to a much more “normal” type of president, and Democrats are going to have to put together a plan to counter the Vance/Rubio debate skills and the appeal of a lower-drama commander-in-chief.
Finally, we can likely expect increased boldness from America’s adversaries. I’m sure most governments across the world are aware that President Trump has just been rebuked and has lost some relative power. That will embolden adversaries in a variety of ways, especially if the new Congress reins in military spending.
Thankfully, our government undergoes peaceful transitions of power. If your team won, congratulations, but please don’t gloat. If your team lost, try to be gracious in defeat, but plan to bring a few like-minded people to the polls in two years. We’re still Americans, and if you’d rather live here than in any other country on Earth, let’s do what we can to make this place even better, and the most practical way to do that is usually by helping out the people around you, whether they vote the same way you do or not.
God bless America!