Trump confronts a new role as a lame duck facing a hostile congress
Katie Rogers
asserted
Trump → confront → congress
Over the course of his life, Donald Trump has readily embraced many identities: A hotel developer.
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Trump → embrace → developer
Now, at 80, he is confronting one he would rather not: A lame duck.
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he → confront → one
In the hours after 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.
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Trump → put → 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.
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wave → deny → Iran
Vice-President JD Vance explicitly said otherwise.
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Vance → say → ?
He accepted the election results.
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He → accept → results
And, as he absorbed the waning power he will have in his final two years in office, he bargained, saying he would work with Democrats while clinging to his veto Sharpie.
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he → absorb → Sharpie
“I’ll get along probably with the Democrats, unless they want to be destructive,” Trump told reporters on Nov 4, standing in front of a steel beam that was being put into place as part of his cherished White House ballroom project.
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that → get → project
He noted that he had “the power to veto”, before turning to a topic he seemed much more eager to discuss: His renovation projects.
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he → note → topic
Whether Trump adopts a pragmatic dealmaking posture remains to be seen – one ally described the President as “dazed” after the rout on Nov 3.
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ally → adopt → Nov
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.
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he → confront → return
Once back in the White House in January 2025, Trump had no use for compromise.
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Trump → have → compromise
After a period spent as a political pariah and criminal defendant, Trump liked to say that he had gone from hunted to hunter.
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he → spend → 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.
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life → track → Americans
He did not need Congress to do any of it.
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Congress → need → it
But on Nov 3, that dynamic flipped again.
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dynamic → flip → Nov
Democrats are vowing to investigate government abuses, alleged corruption by the President’s associates and the heavy-handed tactics of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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Democrats → vow → Enforcement
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 source with knowledge of the discussions.
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lawmakers → plan → discussions
“LAWYER UP,” Robert Garcia, Democratic Representative for California, who is poised to lead the House Oversight Committee, wrote on social media.
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who → lawyer → 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.
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who → make → 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.
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who → look → Capitol
“And it’s just going to get even more chaotic and dangerous in these next two years.”
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.
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who → go → 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.
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he → do → career
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.”
Trump has so far been vague about how he wants to spend the next two years, telling podcaster and former top FBI official Dan Bongino in an interview on Nov 3 that he has “many, many things in the hopper”.
He did not elaborate and instead pivoted into a standard part of his stump speech: “You know, right now we have more factories and plants being built in the United States than at any time ever before, and that means the Roaring Twenties, that means every – there’s never been anything like it.”
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that → need → it
Manufacturing has actually slowed since 2024, according to the National Association of Manufacturers.
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Manufacturing → slow → Manufacturers
He suggested in interviews that he might seek to join forces with his political opponents on the debt ceiling and immigration enforcement – two thorny policy issues that have bedevilled past administrations.
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that → suggest → administrations
And he repeatedly invoked his ability to veto legislation, implicitly underscoring how much he will be on defence in his last two years in office.
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he → invoke → office
In his first public appearance after Election Day, Trump stood before reporters at the White House on Nov 4 and talked not about any lessons learnt, or the path forward for the Republican Party.
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Trump → stand → Party
Instead, he mused about his ballroom project and his own future, particularly the subject of impeachment.
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he → muse → impeachment
“I think it would destroy the Democrat Party if they did that – impeachment for no reason,” Trump said.
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Trump → think → reason
He paused, turning his focus back on the ballroom construction.
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He → pause → construction
“Watch the beam go up,” he said.
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he → watch → ?
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.
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Republicans → plan → Congress
Those involved include Miller; Russell T. Vought, the White House budget director; and members of the White House legislative affairs staff, according to a White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions.
The President would receive a “menu of options” soon, the source said.
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source → involve → options
A hushed conversation of what comes next for Trump’s presidency and those around him played out on Nov 3 night inside the White House, where Trump gathered aides and Cabinet members in the East Room for what turned into a morose watch party.
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what → come → 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 sources who attended.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
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House → watch → comment
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.
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President → say → office
Some expressed anxiety that there had been little guidance for staff about what to do if they got pulled into investigations, other than a briefing earlier in 2026 advising them generally how to respond to congressional oversight.
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they → express → oversight
As the political conversation turns to the next cycle, Trump indicated that he was not ready to name a political heir or back a candidate to succeed him in 2028.
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he → turn → 2028
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia
