Trump Says He Will Be 'Mr. Veto' if Democrats Win Congress, and His White House Has Been Planning to Govern Without It Since April

Two days before the midterms, the White House's plan for losing Congress is reporting, not speculation. President Donald Trump's White House has spent months preparing for a possible Democratic takeover, developing plans to keep advancing major parts of his agenda through executive power while bracing for investigations, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing a White House official and two people familiar with the plans, in a file opened and read directly by the desk this run.

The preparation has a start date and named hands. Senior officials including deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and budget director Russell Vought have been working with the White House Counsel's Office since April to identify executive actions on immigration, tariffs, housing costs and federal spending that Trump could pursue without congressional approval, the three people told Reuters. 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 White House official said. Among the actions under consideration, Reuters reported: new tariffs on imports of critical minerals and wind turbines, tighter visa rules for international students and temporary foreign workers, and measures aimed at lowering housing and construction costs. Vought is examining which priorities can move using money already appropriated, and wants grant-rule changes giving political appointees more say over which programs receive taxpayer money.

Trump supplied the quotable version himself. If Republicans lose control of Congress, he said he expects he could issue vetoes for a month or two before reaching compromises with Democrats. 'I guess I'll become Mr. Veto,' Trump told the New York Post's Pod Force One podcast in an interview excerpt released Sunday. 'And then at some point, we'll probably make deals.' The Post's own file, also read this run, adds his fuller framing - 'I'm not going to let them ruin it' - and the veto arithmetic: Trump has vetoed two bills in his second term, against 10 in his first. The White House pushed back on the prospect of Republican losses; spokeswoman Lauren Bis said the administration and Republicans will continue to secure the borders, restore law and order and deliver wins for the American people, Reuters reported.

The stakes are in the margins Reuters states: Democrats need a net gain of four seats in the House as well as the Senate to overturn Republicans' narrow 218-214 and 53-47 majorities; polls favor Democrats to win the House, while the Senate remains too close to call. A Democratic Congress could investigate, block legislation and refuse nominees - Senate control would let Democrats block judicial and executive-branch picks, including any Supreme Court nominee - but it could not easily override a veto, and courts, not Congress, would be the check on executive actions that exceed Trump's legal authority, the report states. One of the people familiar with the planning, asked how comfortable Trump would be governing through executive authority under a Democratic Congress, answered: 'very comfortable.'