Here’s what’ll really happen to Trump if the Democrats win the House but not the Senate

| 8:25 pm EDT October 13, 2018
Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.

With a few weeks to go before the midterm elections, anything can happen. And with Donald Trump’s base largely still preoccupied with celebrating the Kavanaugh confirmation, the outcome of the elections will come down to how hard the Resistance spends these next weeks fighting. That said, if the elections were held today, and if the polls proved accurate, the Democrats would take control of the House but not the Senate. I’ve been getting a lot of questions about the impact that would have.

I’ll give you the good news first. The Democrats simply need to retake the House in order to completely shut down the Trump legislative agenda. Donald Trump and the GOP can’t pass anything without the House. Conversely, even if the Democrats did take the House and Senate, they still wouldn’t be able to pass any partisan legislation of their own, because Trump could veto it.

In addition, if the Democrats only take the House, serious investigations every Donald Trump’s scandal will immediately commence. The Democrats would control every House committee, and they would use it to subpoena everything under the sun (including Trump’s tax returns), while holding public televised hearings every day in order to expose just how much of a criminal fraud Trump really is. If the Democrats win the House and Senate, that’ll mean twice as many committee investigations into Trump. The duplication couldn’t hurt, and it would be great to see rising Democratic Senate stars empowered in this manner. But really, the Democrats just need the House in order to start exposing Trump.

Then there’s the matter of impeachment. If the Democrats win the House, they can quickly begin impeachment hearings with a simple majority vote. The Senate would need 67 votes to convict and remove Trump, but that’s not dependent on whether the Democrats win the Senate majority. It’s important to understand that no U.S. President has ever been removed by impeachment vote. In reality, it’s the impeachment process itself that erodes a President’s ability to continue, and ultimately forces him out in what you might call death by a thousand cuts (see Richard Nixon). The crucial part is that if the Democrats win the House, they can start the destructive impeachment process.

So this all sounds just fine and dandy for Democrats, right? As it turns out, not so much. Let’s say the Democrats win the House but not the Senate. Donald Trump would be crippled legislatively, and his scandals would begin eating him alive. But if another Supreme Court vacancy opened up, Trump and the GOP Senate could still confirm another extremist, and the Democrats would have no ability to stop it. The GOP Senate can also continue stacking the federal bench with extremist judges. If this prospect is unacceptable to you, then you still have time to get out there and help the Democrats win the House and the Senate.