US Democrats vow to rein in Trump

TAKING CHARGE: The Democrats would focus on affordability and accountability when they take the majority in January, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said

Democrats vowed to use their resounding midterm victory to rein in US President Donald Trump, setting up two years of possible deadlock in Washington, as Trump spent his first postelection appearance showing off his under-construction White House ballroom.

A wave of anger over Trump’s policies, particularly the US-Iran war’s role in pushing the cost of living higher, helped Democrats take the US Senate, where they flipped seats in deeply Republican states for a majority of at least 54-44. Democrats also gained at least 30 seats in the US House of Representatives.

It would be the first time that Trump, a Republican who also held the White House from 2017 to 2021, has had to contend with Democrats controlling both chambers of Congress.

US House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries speaks during a news conference in Washington on Wednesday.

Photo: AFP

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Wednesday said that the incoming majority would be focused on affordability and accountability.

“We don’t work for Donald Trump,” Jeffries, a New York lawmaker who is on track to become the first black speaker of the House, told reporters. “We work for the American people. And the days of the House of Representatives functioning like a wholly owned subsidiary of the Trump administration are over.”

Trump, who had devoted his last pre-election public appearance on Monday to talking about his renovations of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, called in reporters on the morning after his party’s sweeping midterm defeat to show off the ballroom he is building at the White House.

“When I get criticized, like: ‘Why are you working on the White House?’ I’m doing it because the White House is the ultimate symbol of America, and it’s got to be pristine, it’s got to be perfect,” Trump said. “For me, it’s relaxing.”

He turned only briefly to the elections during his nearly hour-long appearance, telling reporters: “I’ll get along probably with the Democrats, unless they want to be destructive, but I have the power of the veto.”

Trump had cast the midterm elections as a referendum on the first half of his second four-year stint in the White House, repeatedly urging his Republican base to “pretend I’m on the ballot,” a message that Democratic Party leaders were happy to amplify.

The result: voters in conservative strongholds who propelled the president to his second term in office just two years ago swung dramatically toward Democrats, fueled by deep frustration over the unpopular war with Iran, anxiety over the high cost of living and anger at Trump’s stewardship of the country.

“This is close to an extinction-level event for Republicans,” Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said in public remarks analyzing the results.

The Democratic wave flooded huge swaths of the country. Republicans lost ground in 99 percent of the approximately 2,100 counties where most votes had been counted as of Wednesday morning, according to tallies compiled by Reuters and USA Today.

Once seated in January, Democrats are expected to use their power to investigate Trump’s administration, family and allies and demand concessions on major legislation. The Democratic Senate can block Trump’s nominees, including any US Supreme Court justices should a vacancy arise.

The Democratic victory is fueling questions about the longevity of the Supreme Court’s two eldest justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, and the durability of its conservative majority.

In the meantime, Republicans hold the reins and would have at least one must-pass piece of legislation ahead — a measure to fund the federal government past next month — that they could use to enact conservative priorities during the so-called lame-duck period.

Trump on Wednesday again said that if he had been on the ballot, he believed “we would have won.”

“But they just, you couldn’t transfer that love. There was such love at those rallies, it was incredible and we weren’t able to transfer the love to candidates,” he said.