NBC News has now projected that the GOP will remain in control of the House of Representatives, meaning the beleaguered Republican majority of the last two years will be returning to power in January. This time, however, conservatives will also control the Senate and the White House. The big question is how GOP representatives will use their power and leverage. Will winning finally unify the Republican House? Early signs suggest yes, but for how long and at what cost to the American people remains to be seen.
The previous Republican Congress was historically ineffective and will be remembered more for its dysfunction than its accomplishments. The term started with the exhausting efforts of then-Rep. Kevin McCarthy to finally attain the speakership, only to be tossed out months later by Rep. Matt Gaetz and others. In the second round of the speaker race, Republicans finally agreed on Rep. Mike Johnson as their caretaker — a speaker who himself faced several public moments of open dissent during his brief term.
The previous Republican Congress was historically ineffective, and will be remembered more for its dysfunction than its accomplishments.
Legislatively, Republicans did no better, failing to enact any significant priorities of their caucus and repeatedly relying on the leadership of Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to build the coalition necessary to keep the govern open, responsibly pay the nation’s debt and provide the resources necessary for our defense of Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.
But winning is unifying. So too is the opportunity to serve as a majority coalition in Washington alongside Donald Trump and a Republican Senate, and not simply as an ineffective opposition party. Indeed, Johnson emerged unchallenged in his re-election for speaker and Republicans across the Hill called for rapid enactment of Trump’s priorities.
And as part of that unified coalition, the House is now poised to do real damage — dismantling federal services, undermining health care for millions of Americans, increasing the national debt and capitulating to the whims of Russian President Vladimir Putin and others by withdrawing support from our allies.
The House should also be better able to provide cover for Trump’s worst executive branch impulses, whatever those may be. He has previously pledged to implement extensive mass deportations, use the Department of Justice to go after political enemies, and implement the vague yet ominous “efficiency” proposals of Elon Musk and others in his inner counsel.
Perhaps the greatest danger posed by the Republican House will be its complete abandonment of its Article II responsibility to engage in oversight of a president’s unconstitutional efforts. The two impeachments of Trump (so far) — the first for withholding foreign aid as a lever to secure an investigation of Joe Biden and his family and the second for inciting violence at the Capitol to prevent the constitutional change of presidential power — will forever haunt his legacy.
But those impeachments only occurred because Democrats controlled the lower chamber. It was the Democratic leadership in the House during the first Trump administration that accepted and honored its constitutional obligations during a time of great national divide. Republicans in the Senate, it should be noted, failed to convict both times. And it’s almost certain that the latest iteration of the Republican Party will abandon this solemn responsibility.
Democrats in the House have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to serve as an effective counter to the Republican majority. I expect this Congress should be no different.
Under the leadership of Jeffries and others, Democrats will have to keep finding opportunities to use Republican dysfunction to deliver legislatively for the American people. Where Democrats are unable to stop the Trump agenda, they can stand in opposition to those who would try to subvert the principles and values that have made the party and the nation strong. And at critical constitutional junctures, the voices of congressional Democrats can still lead the national debate and provide voice to the conscience of the nation.
Perhaps the most important lesson from the 2024 election is that winning doesn’t make you right and losing doesn’t make you wrong. We don’t yet know what Trump will do, but certainly many of his proposed agenda items seem to be in opposition to good governance and a free, fair America. Democrats and their allies in the fight against Trumpism have successfully led the opposition before. They will just have to do it again.
