Sunday 1 November 2026
The White House has spent months mapping how to govern without Congress if Democrats win on Tuesday
President Trump's White House has been preparing since April for the possibility that Democrats take Congress on Tuesday, working out which parts of his agenda can move on executive power alone, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing a White House official and two people familiar with the plans. Deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and budget director Russell Vought have led the work with the White House Counsel's Office, covering immigration, tariffs, housing costs and federal spending. Trump, asked about governing under a Democratic Congress, said he expects to issue vetoes for a month or two and then make deals. He called himself, in his words, Mr. Veto.
The preparations started in April, long before the final polls. Counsel Will Scharf and his team have been studying 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 White House official told Reuters. The administration plans to seek legal opinions from the Justice Department in advance, so that the opinions are ready before the actions are challenged.
The list under consideration covers ground Trump has worked before. New tariffs on imports of critical minerals and wind turbines. Tighter visa rules for international students and temporary foreign workers. Measures aimed at housing and construction costs. Vought, whose budget office oversees federal spending, is examining which priorities can move with money Congress has already appropriated, and the plans include changing federal grant rules to give political appointees more say over which programs receive taxpayer money.
None of it removes what a Democratic Congress would hold. A Democratic House gains subpoena power and can investigate the administration, and executive action cannot stop that. A Democratic Senate can block nominees, including any Supreme Court pick. Congress still controls new spending and new law, and courts can strike down executive actions that go past the authority Congress has granted. Democrats need a net gain of four seats in the House and four in the Senate to take both chambers, against Republican majorities of 218 to 214 and 53 to 47. Polling favors Democrats in the House, and the Senate is too close to call.
Trump has been briefed on the work and has taken part in the discussions, according to the reporting. One person familiar with the plans, asked how comfortable the president would be governing through executive authority under a Democratic Congress, answered: very comfortable. Trump put his own version of it on a podcast released Sunday. "I guess I'll become Mr. Veto," he said. "And then at some point, we'll probably make deals."
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