President Donald Trump says he is preparing to use his veto power if Republicans lose control of one or both chambers of Congress in Tuesday’s midterm elections, offering an early glimpse of how he would govern under divided government.
“If that happens, I guess I’ll become Mr. Veto,” Trump said in an interview for Fox News released Sunday. “I’m not going to let them through.”
While expressing hope that Republicans retain their congressional majorities, Trump made clear he is prepared for a very different balance of power in Washington.
“You’ll have a president, and he won’t have the House or the Senate,” Trump said. “They’ll be sending stuff up. You veto it.”
Trump suggested that an initial period of confrontation could eventually give way to negotiations, describing the veto as a tool that could force congressional Democrats to the bargaining table.
“And eventually, after a month or two … you talk it over and you make a deal,” he said.
The remarks offer an early blueprint for a potential shift in Washington after the midterms.
A Democratic-controlled Congress could block parts of Trump’s legislative agenda, constrain spending and increase congressional scrutiny of the administration. Trump, however, would retain the power to veto legislation passed by Congress as well as broad executive authority in areas including trade, foreign policy and the federal bureaucracy.
The White House has also spent months preparing for the possibility of divided government, with senior officials examining executive actions the administration could pursue without congressional approval.
Trump noted that other presidents have governed under similar circumstances, with the White House and Congress eventually forced into negotiations despite partisan confrontation.
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