A blue tsunami just hit the US. Trump may unleash ‘tremendous powers’ to get around it

Heading into the midterm elections, there were predictions of a blue wave crashing over the United States.

The forecasts proved conservative, in more ways than one; a tsunami of Democratic support destroyed the Republican stranglehold on the House and Senate, and with it, Donald Trump’s control of Congress.

But what does it actually mean for the president?

First up, it shows just how unpopular he and his administration are.

This was Trump’s first electoral test since his emphatic victory over Kamala Harris in 2024, and he repeatedly urged voters to vote as if his name were on the ballot.

The results are damning: Huge swings against the Republicans in districts Trump easily carried two years ago; a swath of House seats flipping to the Democrats; crucially, at least six in the Senate doing the same.

Trump has become the red president who Texas turned blue for. 

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With inflation rising – surging petrol, ahem, gas prices have been a particular sore point for many Americans – it was no surprise that exit polls showed the economy was the top issue for voters.

Tellingly, the state of democracy wasn’t far behind.

According to the AP Voter Poll, Trump’s impact on both was not viewed well.

Practically, the result puts significant constraints on the president’s power.

With control of Congress, Democrats can bring Trump’s legislative agenda to a grinding halt. Sweeping concessions will now be required to pass his laws – even with a slim congressional majority over the past two years, some of the president’s bills have failed to make it onto his desk to be signed into law.

Now, he’s faced with the prospect of Democrat-backed bills needing his signature, although he’ll use his presidential veto to scrap them.

"Historically, you veto for a couple of months and then they come and say, 'We've got to make a deal,'" Trump told CBS on election day before polls closed.

The Democrats can also stop Trump’s unauthorised renovation projects in Washington, and starve administration agencies of funding while putting money back into those he defunded.

Significantly, they can defund Trump’s war with Iran, effectively forcing him to withdraw the Navy from the region. 

Several votes on this have been launched and narrowly failed since the start of the war in February; another would appear likely to succeed.

Whether that means the Iranians will reopen the Strait of Hormuz, though, is another matter.

Having picked up control of the Senate, Democrats can also block any senior appointments Trump may seek to make in his final two years as president, including to the Supreme Court.

However, the office of the president is still immense, and Trump has regularly shown little regard for the official constraints on his powers – continuing the war on Iran, imposing tariffs, and starting significant renovation projects all without appropriate approval.

In an interview with the New York Times as the scale of his nightmare on election night became clear, he struck a more conciliatory tone than expected, saying he was looking forward to working with a Congress controlled by the rival party.

"I am absolutely willing to accept those results," he said.

"We’ll work with the Democrats, and we’ll, you know, look forward to working with them. 

“We’ll probably work something out."

However, that’s a far cry from what he said earlier in the day.

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"We won the Slaughter case and the Slaughter case gives the president tremendous powers that it never had before," he told CBS, referring to the Supreme Court case that he claims grants him vast control over federal bodies regardless of who holds the House and Senate.

That indicated Trump is willing to ramp up his use of executive power in order to ram through his agenda.

"The presidency, our presidency, is considered a strong presidency,” he said. 

“You can do a lot.”