Anthony Zurcher: Midterm carnage weakens Trump but he still wields power for now
As the dust was still settling on the Democratic midterm wave that crashed across America, the official White House account posted a photograph on X of a stern-looking Donald Trump standing behind his desk in the Oval Office.
"Trump is still your president," the caption read.
It's the kind of message Trump surely wants to project – of a president firmly in charge and unbowed despite a dramatic electoral setback.
Left unsaid was that even without control of Congress, American presidents still have broad powers that they can exercise. And Trump has already shown that he is more than willing to push the boundaries of his executive authority.
But also unacknowledged was that the clock is ticking on Trump's presidency – and it will get increasingly more difficult for him to use the powers at his disposal.
Many of his most significant moves have been through presidential orders rather than laws passed by the Republican-controlled Congress.
That includes tariffs imposed on allies and adversaries alike as well as the military operations launched in Venezuela and Iran.
At home, he unilaterally slashed congressionally approved federal spending across government.
Even with the Democrats' majority in the House and Senate, Trump can continue to pursue actions like these – and more – in the final two years of his term. And if the Democrats try to curtail it through legislation, the Constitution provides Trump with a uniquely formidable response – the presidential veto, which can only be overridden by congressional majorities larger than the ones that Democrats will hold.
However, just because some of these powers are still at Trump's fingertips does not mean he retains the political will to do so. There are legions of new Democrats heading to Washington promising to oppose his every move. And the biggest obstacles may come from within Trump's own ranks.
ReutersFor two years the president has displayed a vice-like grip on the Republican Party, keeping his partisan rank and file in Congress and across the US in line through a combination of political rewards and bare-knuckle threats.
Now, however, there are signs that his hold may be loosening.
Some Republicans have begun showing a willingness to criticise his decisions in a way few would dare even a few months ago. His own vice-president, JD Vance, penned a lengthy post on social media blaming the war in Iran that Trump launched with Israel for Tuesday's sweeping Republican defeat.
"If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next six years was worth it, then do so," Vance wrote. "But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there."
Already rumours are circulating that members of Trump's presidential team could be on the chopping block. According to BBC US media partner CBS News, the president is asking close advisers whether he should replace Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, one of the architects of the war. The president denied it.
Such a move would echo George W Bush's move to replace Donald Rumsfeld, a driving force behind the Iraq war, in response to his 2006 "thumping" – the last time Democrats won congressional majorities of Tuesday's scope in a midterm election.
"Republicans who think that they need to pivot away from Trumpism and from the [Make America Great Again] movement are going to either try to emphasise different policy issues, or they're going to try to frame themselves in ways that show some daylight between themselves and Donald Trump," said David Miller, an assistant professor of government at American University.
On Tuesday night, Trump posted on social media and spoke to a series of media outlets, saying in realtime how he would deal with the Democrats – pledging co-operation one moment, and threatening vetoes of liberal legislation in the next.
Then on Wednesday, as construction workers raised the final beam for the White House ballroom he is building despite a lawsuit attempting to halt its progress, he responded to a few questions about the political future.
"I'll get along probably with the Democrats, unless they want to be destructive," he said. "But I have the power of the veto."
In 1995, months after Republicans took control of Congress in a wave election that left Democrats similarly reeling, an isolated and defensive President Bill Clinton insisted that he still mattered and that he had powers left to wield.
"The president is still relevant here," he said, plaintively.
Clinton, still in his first term, had time to rebound politically – and he won re-election the following year.
Time, however, is not on Trump's side.
With Republicans licking their wounds, he may try to make a similar argument to the powers in Washington and the American public.
But with each passing day, the man who loves to dominate the spotlight in US politics may find his powers – and, more importantly, his authority to wield them – slipping through his fingers.
