After winning the Senate and making decisive gains in the House, Democratic lawmakers will be determined to investigate anything and everything that’s happened over the past two years of the Trump administration. Robert Garcia of California, the likely next chair of the House Oversight Committee, in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The results will probably set in motion investigations into the war in Iran, the running of the FBI and, of course, Donald Trump’s family business dealings.
Think Bill Clinton’s Whitewater scandal and Trump’s first impeachment rolled into one, with Iran-Contra thrown in for extra froth. How will these seismic political shifts impact Europe? From energy prices to the war in Ukraine, the continent has a lot riding on what happens in Washington.
Here are five things to watch out for. Some seasoned observers think this is not only possible but highly likely. Democrats will have more opportunities to challenge Trump through appropriations procedures and by being more aggressive in oversight hearings and probes.
They will also likely start attaching stricter conditions to legislation the White House wants. But a U.S. president has considerable constitutional discretion over foreign policy, diplomacy and national security — as well as trade policy — and Trump has unabashedly grabbed more by using edicts and developing novel, contentious legal maneuvers to bypass Congress. He has control over tariffs and trade deals.
Even if Democrats take both houses, he can veto bills,” Phil Gordon, former national security adviser to ex-Vice President Kamala Harris, told Brussels Playbook. Expect more confrontation. Trump will likely want to show he’s still the boss and a master of the universe — and he has more chance to do that on the international stage.
Europe has long been in his crosshairs and those of MAGA stalwarts, who shed crocodile tears for the continent, saying they want to save Europe from itself. They now only have two years to do so. Most leading Democrats have consistently backed sending aid to Ukraine, framing it as a defense of global democracy and international law — as well as being in America’s national security interests.
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