Division of Power

As things look now the Democrats have taken the majority of seats in the U. S. House of Representatives. ABC News reports:

President Donald Trump will wake up to a different Washington when Democrats formally take control of the House of Representatives on Jan. 3, as a tectonic shift in power will begin to unleash a succession of new legal and political challenges for his administration.

“I want to look at all the things the president has done that go against the mandates of our Founding Fathers in the Constitution,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings, the Maryland Democrat who is poised to take control of the powerful House Oversight Committee. “We need accountability, transparency, integrity, and honesty from this Administration.”

Democrats swept to power, having campaigned on the promise of providing a stronger check on the Trump administration. That pledge could initiate bruising legal battles over congressional subpoenas, a stack of demands for documents and testimony from federal agencies — including Trump’s tax returns — and withering investigations into facets of Trump’s personal life, his family business, and his government.

The results have unfolded very much as I have been predicting for months. The Democrats will control the House by 5-10 seats, a narrower majority than the Republican control they will be supplanting. Republicans appear to have netted 2 seats in the Senate.

A number of widely-touted newly emerging Democratic stars failed to secure election including Andrew Gillum in Florida, Beto O’Rourke in Texas, and Stacey Abrams in Georgia. Expect challenges, particularly in Florida and Georgia. They may drag on for years. I also anticipate even more bitter complaints about our present system of representative government. The failure of the “blue wave” to materialize will be blamed on dirty tricks, gerrymandering, and racism. While those are undoubtedly factors, the real cause is that there are genuine differences of opinion.

Democrats and Republicans alike will proclaim victory. It’s already happening with President Trump’s declaring the elections a success. However they paint it winning is better than losing.

Rather than dwelling on the debatable I’d like to focus on what cannot be denied. The Democrats have won the House and picked up some governors’ mansions which will be good for them in 2020. The Republicans strengthened their hold on the Senate.

The new House will have more women in it than any in previous history. It will also be slightly younger than the previous House.

In my opinion advocates will be disappointed with the results. The House and Senate remain firmly under the control of the party leaders, overwhelmingly old and white. More women in the House will make less difference than they might have hoped.

I see no basis whatever for a more businesslike Congress, eager to get to the work of the American people. I’ll be surprised if anything whatever is accomplished over the next two years other than a continuing stream of fruitless investigations.

2 comments… add one
  • bob sykes Link

    This will be a grid-locked, do-nothing Congress, except that Trump will be able to appoint more federal judges, perhaps even a Supreme Court justice. All-in-all, that is probably a good thing.

    It is apparent that a slim majority of Americans are socialists and will vote for candidates that are openly socialist and for socialist policies. We continue our evolution towards the soft dictatorships of Europe.

    Trump will likely be a one-term President.

  • Steve Link

    I am surprised. I may not like Trump, but I think he understands his base better than any other president in modern history. I thought his crossover from race baiting ads to ones that even Fox wouldn’t run would really his base and give them a big turnout. I also think that in general Democrats are a bunch of whiners willing to do anything to change things, except actually show up and vote.

    I also expect some version of a do nothing Congress. Maybe 50 votes to overturn the tax cut bill, ala the ACA. Maybe 8 investigations of the same thing over and over like Benghazi. I suppose there is a slight chance they will pass some infrastructure stuff, but probably nothing that can get past the Senate.

    Steve

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