Welcome back to Donald Trump’s Washington.
Trump’s stunning evisceration of the Blue Wall and Vice President Kamala Harris’ underperformance in all corners of the country has ushered in a new era for U.S. politics — a dramatic shift rightward.
Trump’s all-but-official victory is stunning in its completeness. The former president is on track to sweep all seven of the key battleground states, a huge reversal from 2020. Trump will even win the popular vote by millions of votes. He lost that badly in the last two campaigns.
Trump wasted no time in claiming victory even before his win was formally certified.
Addressing a crowd at 2:30 a.m. EST in West Palm Beach, Fla., that included Speaker Mike Johnson, Trump declared a new “golden age of America.”
“I’d like to thank the American people for the extraordinary honor of being elected your 47th and the 45th president,” Trump declared.
“Look what happened? Is this crazy? But it’s a political victory that we’ve never seen before, nothing like this,” Trump added. “America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate.”
Trump’s historic comeback — from the depths of political wilderness following the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection and subsequent criminal convictions to now heading back to the Oval Office in January — also included running the table in big Senate races.
And Trump asserted that it “looks like we’ll be keeping control of the House of Representatives.” That’s still uncertain with lots of races undecided, although House Republicans exuded confidence heading into Wednesday morning.
The Senate, as expected, has flipped to the Republicans. What’s currently a 51-49 GOP majority could dramatically expand with Trump-fueled victories. If the current numbers hold, Republicans could be looking at a 56-44 majority, the most in nearly a century. Not even the most optimistic Republicans predicted that they’d win seven Democratic-held seats.
Republican Bernie Moreno defeated Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio. Jim Justice won in West Virginia. GOP challengers are leading in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Montana. In Nevada, don’t count out Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen yet. But Republicans fended off challengers in Florida, Texas and Nebraska, dashing already-slim Democratic hopes of holding onto the Senate.
This big Senate majority would give Trump a real chance to enact his agenda and get his Cabinet confirmed without major issues. Furthermore, Trump may be able to add to the 6-3 Supreme Court majority that he built from 2017 to 2021.
The battle for the House is still too close to call. Yet Johnson could fulfill his prediction and keep the House majority, giving Republicans a trifecta for the next two years
Democrats picked up seats in House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ backyard, unseating Reps. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.) and Brandon Williams (R-N.Y.). Democrats added new minority-opportunity seats in Louisiana and Alabama, although there are still legal fights there.
But Democrats lost seats in Pennsylvania and Michigan. Reps. Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) are barely hanging on, and hoped-for Democratic wins in Nebraska, Iowa and, most importantly, California, haven’t materialized, yet.
Should Republicans keep the House, they’ll have full control of D.C. for the second time in eight years. This time, Trump would have a more cooperative and submissive speaker in Johnson and a Senate majority filled with candidates who won their races on the backs of the MAGA movement’s popularity.
Republicans’ legislative ambitions on Capitol Hill will be sky-high and only limited by their ability to get 218 votes in the House and 60 votes in the Senate. That is if Republicans keep the filibuster intact, which they insist they will.
The only potential check on Trump’s power will be if House Democrats find a way to sweep enough seats in the West to win back the majority.
Trump’s ascendance reshuffles all the power dynamics on Capitol Hill. Suddenly, figures such as House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) will be among the most important people in the Capitol, with a direct line to the most powerful man in the world.
What should you expect in Trump’s Washington?
— Congressional leaders have promised an incredibly productive first 100 days. That means that you should expect Republicans to try to extend the Trump-era tax cuts by April 30. This filibuster-proof reconciliation package could include big changes to energy policy and other areas as well.
— Given a healthy Senate majority, Trump will be able to confirm almost any nominee he wants. It would be much easier, for example, to give Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a position atop one of the health agencies, if he wants to serve in the federal government.
— We expect Trump to reach into red states for Cabinet selections. For months, it seemed like Team Trump would only take one senator for the Cabinet, but now they feel like they can take two or three. Names that have been floated include Sens. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik has been gunning to be the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) has also been mentioned as a potential selection for an administration job, according to Trump sources.
Sidenote: Mike Pompeo, the former House Republican, CIA director and secretary of State, is lobbying for Defense secretary, according to Trump world. The Trump transition team will be meeting today at Mar-a-Lago.
— U.S. aid to Ukraine is likely over. Trump has said that he’ll quickly broker a peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv. In any event, Trump and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) see no reason to keep spending U.S. dollars to defend Ukrainians.
— Trump has said that Elon Musk will be charged with slashing the size of federal agencies. This will be a struggle that Congress will have to engage in.
— Trump will dramatically remake immigration policy. Will he be able to deport millions of undocumented immigrants? This would set off a gigantic political struggle.
And Congress will be in the middle of it all.
