Following the midterm elections held on Tuesday, Democrats have secured majorities in both houses of the US Congress, flipping several long-held Republican seats. President Donald Trump has responded to the defeat with a mixed message, expressing a willingness to cooperate with the new majority while simultaneously signaling his readiness to fight for his agenda. In posts on Truth Social, the president attributed the loss to the fact that he was not personally on the ballot, claiming that Republicans would have won in a landslide if he had been running for office.
During an interview with The New York Times, Trump stated he was absolutely willing to accept the results and work with the Democrats. However, he also posted an image of a red MAGA hat with the word VETO replacing his usual slogan, highlighting the presidential power to block legislation. This move has led many critics and commentators to label the president a lame duck, a term that typically refers to the final period of a term when an official has less influence due to their impending departure.
The concept of a lame duck has expanded to include situations where a politician’s scheduled departure reduces their ability to influence policymaking well before they leave office. With the Democratic Party now leading both chambers, Trump’s direct influence over the legislative agenda is expected to diminish. His ability to persuade fellow Republicans to support his policies may also be curtailed, as the midterm losses are widely interpreted as a repudiation of his administration. This dynamic has led pundits to suggest that the lame duck period of his second term has already begun, with two years still remaining until his exit in January 2029.
Although the term lame duck often implies weakness, history shows that such presidents are far from powerless. The US president retains significant executive powers even in a period of divided government. Trump has previously used executive orders to bypass legislative gridlock, centralizing authority in the White House. In January 2025, for example, he declared a national emergency to divert billions of dollars toward border wall construction after Congress allocated less funding than requested.
The power of the veto remains a crucial tool for the president. While Congress can enact a joint resolution to terminate a declared national emergency, the president can use a veto to block it. Overturning a presidential veto requires a two-thirds majority in both the House and the Senate, a threshold the Democratic Party cannot reach alone. Trump has indicated he will use this power frequently, telling Fox News that he would veto all insane legislation from Democrats until they came back to the table to work together.
Historical precedents suggest that lame duck presidents often focus on areas where the executive branch has broad autonomous powers, particularly foreign policy. James Boys, a research fellow at the Centre on US Politics at UCL, noted that despite the damaging results for the Republican Party, many issues remain beyond the reach of Congress. He anticipates that Trump will spend much of his remaining time in office focusing on foreign affairs, where the US Constitution grants wide-ranging powers.
Former President Barack Obama provides a notable example of effective action during a lame duck period. After losing congressional control in 2014, he used his executive authority to finalize the Iran Nuclear Deal and normalize diplomatic relations with Cuba. He also successfully defended the Affordable Care Act during his final months. Similarly, former President Bill Clinton focused on foreign policy in his last months, hosting the Camp David Summit in 2000 to broker peace between Israelis and Palestinians, though the talks eventually collapsed. He also used executive authority to protect forestland and restrict mining on federal grounds.
More recently, former President Joe Biden entered a lame duck period after announcing he would not run for re-election in 2024. In his final days in office, Biden issued a sweeping federal pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, and preventative pardons for other family members and staff. He also reversed prior US policy by granting Ukraine permission to use US-supplied missiles to strike deeper inside Russia. Additionally, he directed the Department of Defense to distribute the remainder of a $61 billion aid package to Ukraine to prevent it from being cancelled by the incoming administration.
