Changes… in America

Well, the world – and your Eyewitness – couldn’t have received a more emphatic response from the American people to the Trump Administration that just came in with their midterm elections – the Democrats now control both Houses of Congress – the House and the Senate!! With the American system of governance designed to provide explicit checks and balances on executive power exercised by the President and his Cabinet – now controlled by a gung-ho republican in the form of Donald Trump – your Eyewitness sees a sustained war of attrition in the next two years of the latter’s term!!
Having observed Trump’s exercise of presidential power, your Eyewitness doesn’t see him backing off an inch from his policies or his in-your-face execution of them – domestic and foreign – which he insists are designed to “Make America Great Again (MAGA)”!! Unlike our parliamentary system, an American President doesn’t depend on maintaining a legislative majority – and Trump’s gonna be there until January 20, 2029!!
The most the Democrats are gonna be able to do is crimp his style if Trump wants to pass new laws or amend existing ones – since he’ll need their approval!! In the meantime, he’s gonna direct executive agencies to do his bidding within the existing laws and AVAILABLE funding!! And, quite gallingly, exercise those powers Congress has already delegated – with unilaterally issued executive orders becoming especially attractive!! For us in ole Mudland, he’s gonna be able to continue conducting diplomacy and negotiate international agreements at his pleasure!! He’ll have to get their approval for new treaties, but with the biggest one (the Iranian war) in the works, it’s the Democrats themselves who want this more than anyone!! No horse trading needed here!!
Congress, under its checks-and-balance powers, can investigate Trump’s Administration, subpoena witnesses and documents, and attach conditions to spending!! But all of this is gonna be like puppies yapping after passing cars, since Trump can veto ordinary legislation, and overriding him requires two-thirds support in both chambers – which the Dems don’t have!!
Now you’d think – and those who wrote the Constitution did! – that all of this will bring Trump to the table to bargain and engage in horse-trading!! But that ain’t Trump’s style, and he’d be willing to have shutdowns of Government services – which he’d then blame on the Democrats for any deleterious effects on voters!! After all, he’s got nothing to lose since he’s finishing up his second and last term as President!!
As your Eyewitness has emphasised, foreign policy’s gonna give him more wiggle room than domestic legislation – and he can continue diplomatic pressure and unilateral actions under existing sanctions or security authorities – while Congress futzes about funding, oversight, and the scope of those powers!!
We’re in for some interesting times!!

…in House Speaker
One of the consequences of the new Democratic control of the House is that there’s gonna be a new Speaker with the gavel – our old friend Hakeem Jeffries, who (used to be??) besties with that rabid PNC supporter from his Crown Heights constituency!! Now, this is potentially a very significant position in American Government – only after the VP in line of succession to the presidency!! But let’s face it: at best, Hakeem could constrain ASPECTS of Trump’s approach, but he can’t take over American foreign policy!! As he’d quoted from the Notorious BIG’s “Juicy” during a House impeachment manager representing Brooklyn against Donald Trump during his first term, “And if you don’t know, now you know.”
So what can we expect from a Hakeem speakership?? Well, probably a stronger hearing for Opposition grievances on contracts, employment, policing, and the distribution of oil wealth – since his stated agenda in his 2023 meeting with Pres Ali included economic participation by both African and Indian Guyanese, electoral reform, and Government–Opposition cooperation!!

…in tactics
Pres Ali shouldn’t let Jeffries’s past sympathy for Opposition complaints make constructive relations impossible – as Hakeem has shown himself to be quite pragmatic when the chips are down.
And with a decimated PNC, the chips ARE down!!

Source: Guyana Times