The hunter becomes a lame duck

Trump speaking before signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington DC. American voters moved to check his power on Nov 3, as a chastened Trump and members of his Cabinet watched the returns come in from the East Room of the White House. — AP

OVER the course of his life, Donald Trump has readily embraced many identities: a hotel developer, a reality television star, a president, a firebrand.

Now, at 80, he is confronting one he would rather not: a lame duck.

In the hours after US voters put a check on the expansive power he has flexed in his second term, giving Democrats control of both the House and the Senate, Trump seemed to be cycling through the stages of grief.

He denied that a blue wave across the country had been his fault, or a direct result of his decision to go to war with Iran, though the vice-president explicitly said otherwise. He accepted the election results. And, as he absorbed the waning power he will have in his final two years in office, he bargained, saying he’d work with Democrats while clinging to his veto Sharpie.

“I’ll get along probably with the Democrats, unless they want to be destructive,” Trump told reporters.

He noted that he had “the power to veto”, before turning to a topic he seemed much more eager to discuss: his renovation projects.

Whether Trump adopts a pragmatic dealmaking posture remains to be seen – one ally described the president as “dazed” after the rout.

After his loss in the 2020 presidential race, the last major political setback Trump confronted, he retreated to Mar-a-Lago, where he nursed his anger and then planned a defiant return. .

After a period spent as a political pariah and criminal defendant, Trump liked to say that he had gone from hunted to hunter.

In his second term, his administration has tracked down his political enemies, unleashed a violent immigration crackdown and started a war that has made life more expensive for Americans. He didn’t need Congress to do any of it.

But on Nov 3, that dynamic flipped again.

Democrats are vowing to investigate government abuses, alleged corruption by the president’s associates and the heavy-handed tactics of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

House lawmakers plan to scrutinise top officials involved in the administration’s immigration agenda, including White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller; Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar; and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions.

“LAWYER UP,” Democratic Representative Robert Garcia, who is poised to lead the House Oversight Committee, wrote on social media.

The political pressure could make for an unpredictable two years for both Trump and the country, according to people who have observed firsthand his volatile personality and his refusal to acknowledge mistakes.

“When you look at things like his ability to do executive orders and grant pardons and all of these things, he’s going to still be doing enormous damage,” said Sarah Matthews, a former White House deputy press secretary who resigned after the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Political rivals believe that Trump, who has asserted his dominance over the Republican Party for the better part of the last decade, will also do everything to maintain his grip on a party that he effectively reshaped in his image.

“Donald Trump needs attention like most people need oxygen,” said former Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, a Republican who is considering another presidential run in 2028.

“He can’t do without it, and he’s now going to experience for the first time in his political career being a lame duck. So what he’ll need to do is to act out even more than he normally does in order to divert you from the 2028 race.”

In his first public appearance after Election Day, Trump stood before reporters at the White House and talked not about any lessons learned, or the path forward for the Republican Party.

Instead, he mused about his ballroom project and his own future, particularly the subject of impeachment.

“I think it would destroy the Democrat Party if they did that – impeachment for no reason,” Trump said. “What, for having a successful country? Our country is more successful now than at any time in history.”

He paused, turning his focus back on the ballroom construction.

“Watch the beam go up,” he said. “Now envision chandeliers all over.”

Several top aides had already been planning for what Trump could accomplish through executive power alone if Republicans lost one or both chambers of Congress.

A hushed conversation of what comes next for Trump’s presidency and those around him played out on election night inside the White House, where Trump gathered aides and Cabinet members for what turned into a morose watch party.

As the president watched the returns and fielded phone calls, some of the people around him quietly discussed whether Trump would keep in place members of his Cabinet or his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, according to two people who attended.

Administration officials and Trump’s allies said the president and his staff were girding themselves for both congressional investigations and high turnover for the remainder of his time in office. — ©2026 The New York Times Company

This article originally appeared in The New York Times