Trump White House maps path to govern without Congress if Democrats win

President Donald Trump’s White House has been preparing for months for a possible Democratic takeover of Congress, developing plans to continue advancing major parts of his agenda through executive power while bracing for investigations of his administration, according to a White House official and two people familiar with the plans.

Three people, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said senior officials including deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and budget director Russell Vought have been meeting with the White House Counsel’s Office since April to identify executive actions on immigration, tariffs, housing costs and federal spending that Trump could take without congressional approval.

The White House insider said White House counsel Will Scharf and his team are also looking at “what Trump can legally do on his own, where he could push the limits of his authority and how to defend those decisions in court.”

The preparation highlights a contradiction of Tuesday’s midterm elections: Democrats would take control of Congress and have the power to investigate Trump, stop legislation and rein in his spending priorities. But Trump would hold vast executive power over trade, foreign policy and the federal bureaucracy that he has already utilised forcefully in his second term.

“If we lose the Congress, I think I’ll be able to veto for a month or two and then start making deals with the Democrats,” Trump stated.Trump said he would be “Mr. Veto,” in a portion of an interview released Sunday on the New York Post’s Pod Force One podcast. “And we’ll probably make deals at some point.

To wrest the thin 218-214 and 53-47 Republican majorities in the US House of Representatives and US Senate, Democrats need a net gain of four seats. Opinion polls suggest the Democrats have the edge to take the House, but the Senate is too close to call.

For the past month Trump has been holding rallies around the country trying to maintain Republican control of Congress, even as advisors discreetly prepare for a much different political scenario in 2027.

The White House dismissed the potential of Republican losses and accused the media of perpetuating a false narrative.“This administration and commonsense Republicans will continue to secure our borders, restore law and order, putting more money back into the pockets of hard-working Americans and deliver wins for the American people,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said.

The executive actions under consideration include increased levies on imports of essential minerals and wind turbines, tougher limits on visas for international students and temporary foreign workers, and steps to reduce housing and building prices, the White House official said.

One of the people familiar with the planning said federal departments had submitted ideas and legal studies of actions the administration may take on its own.

Vought, whose U.S. Office of Management and Budget supervises federal spending, is reviewing whether goals may go ahead with money already approved by Congress, two of the sources said.

He also wants to amend federal grant regulations to allow political appointees greater say in which government programs get taxpayer dollars, they added, potentially giving the White House more control over federal spending without obtaining legislative permission.

The White House official said Trump has been briefed on the preparations and has been included in discussions about them.

Asked how comfortable Trump would be operating through executive authority with a Democratic Congress, one of the people answered “very comfortable.”

GOVERNING WITHOUT A CONGRESS

Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has already tested the limits of presidential power, using his executive authority to impose sweeping tariffs, ramp up immigration enforcement, shrink the federal workforce and pursue foreign-policy goals, including the war against Iran, without congressional approval or new legislation.

The one big exception was Trump’s enormous package of tax and expenditure cuts, passed by the Republican-controlled Congress and signed into law by the president in July 2025.Nathan Gonzales, editor at Inside Elections, which provides nonpartisan political analysis, said President Trump has virtually ignored Congress in the previous two years and attempted to do as much as possible through executive orders and executive power. “If there are Democratic majorities, I think he’ll just continue.”

Trump has declared national emergencies multiple times to extend his power to act without new laws. Trump could veto any such move, and Congress would need two-thirds majorities in both chambers to override him.

A Democratic Congress still might be a huge roadblock.

And if Democrats gained control of the Senate, they could block Trump’s judicial and executive-branch appointments, including any Supreme Court nominee.I would expect them to be extremely loath to confirm any of the president’s appointments,” said Andrew Busch, a public policy professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and author of a history of midterm ⁠elections.

Democrats also might kill legislation Trump supports. But Trump can veto Democratic legislation he doesn’t like, and Democrats likely won’t have enough votes in the House to override him.

Courts can strike down executive measures that go beyond what Trump is legally allowed to do. The White House aims to obtain legal views from the Justice Department on what Trump can do without Congress and how to defend such measures if they are sued, said one of the sources.

DEMOCRATIC PROBES

But there is one obstacle that cannot be met through presidential action — congressional enquiries.

Senior House Democrats and committee aides have talked of using hearings, subpoenas and document requests to investigate whether Trump has used his presidential position to help himself, allies or donors, Reuters has previously reported.

All three people said Trump aides have spent months getting ready for that possibility.

White House lawyers have been advising political appointees and agency heads on how to respond to congressional enquiries, document requests and subpoenas, one person said. Officials have been warned to be careful what they put in writing.

They also wanted a Justice Department ruling that may allow Trump to claim executive privilege to insulate communications with private advisers from congressional inquiry, according to the individual.

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