President Donald Trump has a plan if voters hand Democrats control of Congress next month: block everything they send him.
Speaking to reporters on the White House South Lawn on Friday morning, before leaving for a campaign rally in Fort Myers, Florida, Trump was asked what would happen if Democrats flip the House or the Senate in the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
“Well, I think the Republicans are going to win. But if there was, you call it gridlock, what happens is I veto everything,” Trump said. “And then the Democrats come and they want to make a deal. So we’ll work it out.”
He went further when pressed on the idea of a divided government. “I mean, if you look historically, when you have a situation where that would happen, if it happens, you veto, veto, veto, and then they come and they say, how do we get it done? And you make a deal,” he said.
A threat aimed at the voters, not just Congress
The comments, reported by outlets including the Washington Examiner, amount to an open warning that the president is prepared to shut down the normal lawmaking process for the rest of his term unless Congress gives him what he wants. Republicans currently hold narrow majorities in both the House and the Senate, and election forecasters have been shifting their predictions toward Democrats winning the House.
Under the Constitution, Congress can override a presidential veto only with a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate, a high bar given how closely divided Congress is. That means a blanket veto strategy could stall nearly any bill a Democratic majority passes.
Trump has issued two vetoes so far in his second term, according to NTD. He vetoed 10 measures during his first term, and former President Joe Biden used his veto 13 times.
Part of a pattern on the campaign trail
The veto threat fits a theme Trump has been pushing in the final stretch of the campaign: tying what Americans can expect from the government to whether Republicans keep control of Congress. He has repeatedly said he would back certain measures, including payments to Americans, if the GOP holds the House and Senate.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is widely expected to become speaker if Democrats win the chamber, has not ruled impeachment in or out. “We haven’t ruled anything out when it comes to all of the tools available to us to hold people accountable, and we haven’t ruled anything in,” Jeffries said last month. Democrats are also preparing a 100-day agenda for a possible House majority.
Election Day is Nov. 3. Whether voters see Trump’s promise as a reason to keep Republicans in charge or as a reason to send a check on his power is now one of the clearest choices on the ballot.