By Denny Gulino
WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The political earthquake that shook Washington Tuesday night was widely anticipated yet still arrived as something of a shock, as the House of Representatives was transferred to Democratic control, posing a significant threat to the White House of Donald Trump.
As first projected by Fox News, the media of choice at 1600 Pennsylvania avenue, and later echoed by the other TV and cable networks, the tectonic shift in national politics will early next year place committed Trump enemies in a position to examine his tax returns and use subpoena power and investigations to try to thwart executive branch initiatives, on immigration, deregulation, health care and tax policy.
Yet the margin of control will be similar to that enjoyed by the Republicans for the first two years of Trump’s term, too small to be automatically decisive in the many legislative tests to come.
For the markets, divided government can be seen as a plus for stocks, with gridlock the time-honored antidote to unsettling change, at least in the medium term. It can also postpone already long-delayed structural reform of entitlement spending and other fiscal policy stalemates. That may ensure inevitably wrenching adjustments as debt service inexorably devours more government revenues. The change may seal the doom of another round of tax cut legislation.
What the change in committee chairmanships and the balance of political power will not necessarily do is derail Trump moves to confront China through trade challenges and other tactics since Democratic leadership is generally aligned with them.
Trump may also use the Democratic House as a convenient foil to buttress his chances to be re-elected in 2020, with a Republican Senate there to block any conviction should impeachment become a House priority. The change in House leadership may be a safeguard of the work of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, reinforcing the likelihood it will reach its conclusion about several aspects of the Trump presidency.
Faced with a now formidable adversary, a key question will be whether Trump recalibrates himself to elevate his instincts as a dealmaker, working with Democrats on some shared objectives, like infrastructure rebuilding.
Nancy Pelosi, demonized in many Republican campaign ads, will now return as Speaker of the House, although it is widely anticipated that she will set a time limit to her speakership and allow a successor to be installed, perhaps within months of the Democratic takeover in January.
Pelosi read the names of newly elected and re-elected Democratic House members as she took the podium Tuesday night to proclaim “a new day in America.”
She said the vote will be “restoring the Constitution’s checks and balances.” She pledged to “clean up corruption,” lower the price of prescription drugs, rebuild the nation’s infrastructure and build American confidence in the national legislature. “Democrats pledge a Congress that works for the people,” she said. The priority will be “transparency and openness” and Democrats will “strive for bipartisanship.”
“We have all had enough of division,” she said. “Elections are about the future.”
Pelosi spoke a little more than half an hour after the polls closed in California and before voting ended in Alaska.
In the Senate races that retained Republican control Democrat Claire McCaskill lost her job in Missouri, replaced by Josh Hawley. And in West Virginia, Joe Manchin kept his job, as did Republican Ted Cruz in Texas. His opponent, Beto O’Rourke, came close to victory, an impressive feat in a Republican dominated state. After calling Cruz to concede defeat, told his supporters he’ll remain an active participant without saying if he has any national ambitions. Democrat Jon Tester was holding on to a narrow lead in Montana. Republican Mitt Romney, as expected, won in Utah.
Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Tom Perez Tuesday night said that Democrats will try to work with Trump on immigration policy and to protect Social Security and Medicare but that oversight and investigations will also be a priority.
Closely watched governor races in Georgia and Florida remained too close to call late into the night.