Happy Post-Election Day (Part I)

Happy Post-Election Day (Part I)

The House

Question: What does the House of Representatives do? Answer: the House introduces and votes on bills, drafts budget and appropriations legislation, conducts investigations, and initiates impeachment proceedings against federal officials.

Question: What will the new House do? Answer: the House will introduce and vote on bills that will not become law, drafts budget and appropriations legislation that will not be adopted, conducts investigations, and initiates impeachment proceedings against federal officials that will fail to get a conviction in the Senate.

Blue wave? Blue tsunami? Just call it a riot. At this writing the democrats have won 228 seats in the House with a net gain of 25 and are leading in 35 more.

All spending bills originate in the House. A democrat victory in the House effectively stalls Trump’s domestic legislative agenda, leaving his administration to rely on executive orders. Hakeem Jeffries, who will become Speaker of the House (I refuse to call him “THE FIRST BLACK SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE”), has pledged to immediately unleash subpoena power to investigate administration corruption, foreign policy decisions in Iran, and the personal financial enrichment of the Trump family. He will also blame Trump for what has happened to diesel fuel prices. This is Trump’s doing (not Zelenskyy’s) and only a fool would think otherwise.

The anger against Trump has been compounded by the taint of corruption and the use of the presidency to enrich himself and his family. His personal fortune, has surged from $2.3 billion in 2024 to $6.5 billion, not to mention the fortunes of his family and cronies like Howard Lutnick.

Jeffries and the democrat House will immediately assert control over the federal purse strings in an attempt to thwart Trump’s remaking of DC. Michael Steele says that “Congress will freeze money on projects like tearing down the East Wing for Trump’s ballroom, and they’ll reassert oversight over the Kennedy (ne: Trump) Center,” adding, “Trump is effectively a lame duck now. The rest of the country knows his time is coming to an end.” But a democrat House without the presidency has zero legislative power. So the democrat agenda will be two fold. The House will go after Trump, his cabinet, and his family. It will be a circus, and one that the public will likely turn against. All the while, the Senate will reject all his nominees (so said Sherrod Brown who will return to the Senate from Ohio).

But what will Trump do? Will he continue to lash out at everyone and everything? Will he become more belligerent and act like a cornered animal, or will he try to act more like a bipartisan leader and less like a lone wolf?

Trump, to put it mildly has blown it. Instead of solidifying the coalition that elected him, he has worked hard to tear it apart. Hispanics supported him in unprecedented numbers, and now they have rejected him because of his ham-fisted approach to immigration. When I was hunting near Eagle Pass, Texas, the Hispanic residents supported his efforts to close Biden’s open borders. Illegals were overrunning their towns and straining their resources. It looked as though the republicans would sweep the five congressional districts in South Texas. But not now.

Economics is the main driving factor in Hispanic support. Trump’s deportation policies have contributed massively to the magnitude of the defections, and they are Trump’s alone. Republicans can regain Hispanic support if they concentrate on economics while keeping the border secure rather than alienating Hispanic voters by raiding homes and deporting those who have settled here and made a life for themselves. Yes, I understand the basic principle that entering illegally is a criminal activity but one must face reality at some time just like Ronald Reagan.

The Democrats are guaranteed to overplay their hand. They will lose the Hispanic vote if they reopen the border and let the hordes back in.

Voters directly attribute their economic misery to this president just like Biden before him. One observer said “There’s a very clear line between his actions and the things people don’t like.” “It’s going to be the tariffs and it’s going to be the war: both self-inflicted wounds. He didn’t have to raise tariffs; that was his theory of the world, which turned out to be wrong. Bombing nuclear sites in Iran was one thing, but going to all-out war turned out to be a mistake.”

What about the House committees? Who will take over as chair of the most important committees?

Jamie Raskin (D-MD) openly despises Trump. Although he is in line to chair the House Oversight Committee, he is expected to chair the Judiciary Committee instead because Jerry Nadler is retiring. Robert Garcia (D-CA) is expected to chair the House Oversight Committee. Garcia just told the republicans to “lawyer up.” So expect a flood of subpoenas and impeachment proceedings. Raskin was the lead impeachment manager for the Democrats in the second impeachment of President Trump over the January 6^th events.

Garcia is an outspoken progressive. He supports initiatives aimed at providing healthcare access to all citizens. He champions laws to regulate ammunition sales and address gun violence. Garcia works to expand pathways to citizenship for undocumented residents. As chair of the House Oversight Committee, he will have considerable power. Here is what Wikipedia says about that committee:

“The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is the main investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee’s broad jurisdiction and legislative authority make it one of the most influential and powerful panels in the House. Its chair is one of only three in the House with the authority to issue subpoenas without a committee vote or consultation with the ranking member.”

Richard Neal (D-MA) is a “moderate” who defeated a progressive challenger from his left in the primary. Neal, 77, has been in Congress for nearly four decades and is the top democrat on the powerful tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. His 39-year-old challenger ran on a platform that included Medicare for All, higher taxes on the wealthy, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and a pledge to reject campaign contributions from corporate PACs. His opponent cast Neal as a representative of the democrat establishment unwilling to take on wealthy interests and corporate power. The challenger lost.

Adam Smith (D-WA), unlike his namesake, is a card-carrying progressive with policy positions totally in line with those of Bernie Sanders and his ilk. Here are just a few of his positions:

• For affordable housing expansion;
  • For forcing private equity to divest from single-family homes;
  • For financial transaction taxes; co-sponsors the Wall Street Tax Act to tax high-volume financial transactions;
  • Against Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose tariffs;
  • For subsidized child care;
  • For protecting SNAP benefits; opposes GOP efforts to cut SNAP for veterans, seniors, and working families;
  • For raising the federal minimum wage to $20/hour;
  • For a minimum tax rate on large corporations and ending corporate stock buybacks;
  • For paid family leave;
  • For universal healthcare;
  • For protecting ACA subsidies and Medicaid;
  • For drug price controls;
  • For due process protections for terrorism detainees on U.S. soil;
  • For protecting vote-by-mail systems;
  • For immigration enforcement officer identification requirements.

Jim Himes (D-CT) is the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and a member of the House Financial Services Committee. Himes was one of ten democrats in Congress who joined all of the Republicans in voting to censure democrat congressman Al Green for interrupting Trump’s State of the Union Address. He was one of 95 democrats in Congress who joined all of their republican colleagues in voting to honor the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk. He voted against the Stupak-Pitts Amendment in the Affordable Health Care for America Act, which would have prevented federal funds from paying for any health care plan with abortion coverage. He opposed the capture of President Nicolás Maduro. But he supported a 2026 renewal of Section 702 of FISA, allowing the government to surveil American citizens and residents while abroad. Importantly, Himes voted in favor of the republican resolution to condemn socialism. In explaining his vote, Himes said that the second Trump administration was “the most socialist administration in two and a half centuries,” citing Trump’s initiatives to take stakes in various private companies. Not surprisingly, Himes was denounced by the Connecticut chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America for this vote.

Frank Pallone (D-NJ) is no progressive. Like Richard Neal, he also survived primary challenges from two progressives. Pallone has been in Congress for 38 years, having first been elected in 1988. Pallone is one of Congress’ most outspoken critics of Trump. Pallone was a leader in the fight to pass the Inflation Reduction Act and instrumental in the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, Pallone played a key role in authoring and passing the Affordable Care Act. He will chair the House Energy and Commerce Committee – the oldest continuous standing committee in the House, which has one of the broadest jurisdictions of any congressional committee. The Committee’s jurisdiction includes, but is not limited to, issues pertaining to health care, energy, environment, commerce, food and drug safety, consumer protection, and communications and technology. It will be interesting to see his interaction with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

So look for House democrats to do all they can to un-Trump America. It will be a zoo. Look for many in the administration to head for the exits. It should be entertaining theatre.

Driving down to the farm I listened to Fox News to hear their analysis. Note: I hardly ever listen to the news and listening to Fox reinforced my good judgment. There was a lot of handwringing and virtually no analysis. They acted as though 7 card carrying members of the Democratic Socialists of America spelled doom for the country as if they forgot about the other House democrats who are not (overt) socialists. In fact, one silver lining is that the democrat margin in the House is so large that the DSA members have diminished power – much less than in the current Congress. If the margin were thin like now, they would have a greater sway than they will in the new congress.

Fox News proclaimed Byron Donalds THE FIRST BLACK GOVERNOR OF A SOUTHERN STATE. And completely ignored Keisha Lance Bottoms. They did not mention the rejection of the MAHA advocates who were paid campaign visits by Robert Kennedy, Jr. Roger Marshall lost his Senate seat in Kansas. Zach Lahn in Iowa who could barely muster up 45 percent of the vote. All three representatives lost: Tom Barrett. In Michigan, Gabe Evans in Colorado and Derrick Vab Orden in Wisconsin.

Aside from the new socialists in the House, they completely ignored that chamber. Fox failed to mention that the gerrymandering in Texas and Florida flopped with democrats actually gaining a seat in Texas and winning three of the four gerrymandered seats in Florida. On the other hand, California’s was successful with democrats taking all five new districts.

But in the end, this was a decisive repudiation of Trump, his policies – foreign and domestic, his tariffs, his war on Iran and his in your face lining of his own purse. The president said to vote as if he were on the ballot, and the voters did.