President Trump said Wednesday he’s hoping for a “beautiful” relationship with the new Democratic-led House, but also said he’s ready to go to war with them if he has to.
He might get to see both. At a 90-minute White House press briefing, Trump sounded optimistic and even enthusiastic about working with the new Democratic majority. He told reporters at a post-election news conference, “it really could be a beautiful, bipartisan type of situation.”
In his first two years in office, Trump has shown a willingness to work with Democrats to strike deals he supports. He predicted he would try again in areas such as trade, infrastructure spending, and lowering the price of prescription drugs.
“I really believe we’ll be able to do that,” Trump said Wednesday. “I think we are going to have a lot of reason to do that.”
He was also optimistic he could find a way forward on a middle-class tax cut, and political observers believe there’s a possibility of bipartisanship next year that could help Trump improve his standing with voters.
“Trump does have the opportunity to work with Democrats and create deals on populist issues that could help him win the 2020 election, Republican strategist Ron Bonjean, a former top House and Senate GOP aide, told the Washington Examiner.
But war clouds already seem to be gathering. Democrats mostly oppose Trump’s efforts to deregulate, lower taxes, build a border wall, and repeal Obamacare. Those are the sorts of fights that could make it hard to conduct critical negotiations on spending with House Democrats and Senate Republicans.
And Trump warned Wednesday that his willingness to extend an olive branch to Democrats would be stifled if the party swamps him with subpoenas, investigations, and threats of impeachment. If that happens, he said he’d be forced into “a warlike posture.”
While likely House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she opposes an immediate attempt to impeach Trump, House Democrats seem likely to launch a series of committee investigations aimed at uncovering irregularities and fraud within Trump’s administration. Trump faces possible threats from several House committees.
The House Judiciary Committee, now run by conservative Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., the House Oversight Committee chaired by Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and the Intelligence Committee run by Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., have shielded Trump from Democrats who believe Trump’s campaign conspired with Russians to win the 2016 election. The GOP has also blocked Democrats from forcing probes into Trump’s policies, including one that has separated illegal immigrant parents from their children at the southern border. They are also determined to examine Trump’s tax returns, which he has never released.
Now they’ll get the chance.
The House Intelligence Committee, which will be chaired by Democrat Adam Schiff, of California, will likely re-open a probe into the 2016 Trump campaign that the GOP had concluded without finding evidence of collusion.
Trump foe Elijah Cummings, D-Md., is set to chair the Oversight panel, while Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., a longtime Trump opponent, will take the helm of the House Judiciary Committee. Both have pledged to step up House oversight of the president.
Nadler would oversee any move to impeach the president, and there will be pressure from the House Democratic base of progressives to take that step.
The House Ways and Means panel will also pose a new threat to Trump. Now chaired by Trump ally Kevin Brady, R-Texas, the committee will be run by Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., who said he plans to ask Trump to hand over his tax returns.
If they move on those impulses, the “beautiful” period could end quickly, and Trump could quickly find himself battling Democrats.
“President Trump and the White House better staff up with a caravan of lawyers and be prepared for the legal tsunami the Democrats are about to unleash on his White House, because Pelosi’s House Democrats are not interested in working with Trump on legislation,” Republican strategist Ford O’Connell told the Washington Examiner. “They want to settle scores. They will likely try to impeach Trump and launch so many investigations and issue so many subpoenas that the government will come to a grinding halt. The Democrats have no interest in putting America first, they only want to cripple Trump.”
“The most obvious pitfall for President Trump is the avalanche of investigations that Washington Democrats will unleash, probably building up to a vote on articles of impeachment,” Republican strategist and former top House GOP aide Michael Steel told the Washington Examiner. “He also has a very, very narrow window of opportunity to get things on issues like infrastructure, healthcare, or immigration before the 2020 Democratic primary race overshadows everything.”
But while Trump is at risk, Trump might quickly see that a battle with the Democrats is just what he needs as he heads into his 2020 re-election bid.
“A Democratic House will give Trump a new target,” Ron Faucheux, president of the research and polling firm Clarus Research Group, told the Washington Examiner. “For a president who always needs targets to go after, that opens up opportunity for him.”
Trump himself seemed to agree.
“I could see it being extremely good for me politically because I think I’m better at that game than they are, actually, but we’ll find out,” he said.
