Fierce battles for seats in Congress are coming to an end. The Republicans have already gained a majority in the Senate. The Democratic Party has managed to defend several of its seats in the House of Representatives, according to AP, but even there the Republicans seem to get the majority. A party must get 219 representatives in to get a majority. On Saturday afternoon, 212 Republicans have won a seat, against 200 Democrats. What does it mean that the same party controls the White House and the entire Congress? How much power does the American president have, and what can he actually achieve? – The most powerful president in American history When newly elected Donald Trump spoke at his victory party in Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday, he emphasized that the American voters had given him a “historically powerful mandate”. Not only has Trump, as the first Republican presidential candidate in 20 years, won the popular vote. Now his party is well placed to gain a majority in the entire Congress. If that happens, it means in practice that incoming President Trump does not need to relate to the opposition when he is to govern the country in the years to come. And that’s not all. The last time he was president, he was stopped by several people from his own party who disagreed with him. It is probably in the back of his mind when he now puts together his new government. – Trump was frustrated when his advisers said that he did not have the power to do something or other that he wanted to do. This time he will choose employees who say “yes” instead of “no”, says professor of political science Hilmar Mjelde. – Trump will be the most powerful president in American history. That is why the election in Congress is important. Americans did not just vote on the country’s next president this week, but also on who will fill the country’s legislative assembly, Congress. Congress consists of two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The two chambers can have different political majorities, and thus be governed by different parties. For a president, it is always easier to get his policy through if the majority in both parties comes from the same party as himself. That is what is likely to happen now. The Senate, where the Republicans have gained a majority, approves, among other things, the president’s nominations for judicial positions and holds impeachment proceedings against presidents who have been nominated for it. The vice-president in the USA is the formal leader of the Senate, although in practice it is someone called “president pro tempore” who rules. Then-vice president Mike Pence and leader of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi during the approval of the presidential election on January 6, 2021. Photo: Saul Loeb / AP This does not mean that the vice president’s role in the Senate is only symbolic. He or she is the one who officially announces the election results. For a long time this has been seen as a purely routine task. But in 2020, when Trump put pressure on his vice-president Mike Pence to refuse to approve Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election, this task suddenly became more important than that. Still some safeguards The presidency in the USA has gained greater capacity over time, says Mjelde, because the presidents are constantly able to expand the area over which they have power. This applies especially to Trump, who has spent his entire life fighting against limitations on what he can do. – As president, he saw limitations on his use of power as illegitimate. His life motto is that you always have to fight against, says Mjelde. Hilmar Mjelde is professor of political science and researches, among other things, American politics. In addition to the fact that Congress will most likely be governed by obedient party members, Mjelde points to three things that make Trump particularly powerful: The Supreme Court recently extended the president’s legal immunity Large parts of the electorate do not trust the media Trump will never stand for election again – since he already has a seat for four years, he can only sit for four more. He therefore need not worry about the voters’ judgment. But some safeguards still exist. Every other quarter there are elections for the House of Representatives and a third of the senators. Therefore, the majority can change midway through a presidential term. It is quite common, and last happened in the mid-term elections in 2018 and 2022. It meant that Trump in 2018 and Biden in 2020 had to negotiate with the leadership of their opposing party in order to get their policies through. Trump is working to identify his next administration. Photo: Brian Snyder / Reuters In addition, the US federal system will continue to limit Trump. – States governed by the Democrats will be independent centers of power that will oppose Trump. The states govern much of their own policy, says Mjelde. New Supreme Court judges Who governs the judiciary will have a lot to say to a president with four criminal cases and two impeachment courts on the docket. Many of the most important political cases in the USA are decided not by the politicians, but by the US Supreme Court. There are nine judges for life, all appointed by a president. The fact that Trump brought in three conservative judges in his first term as president was decisive for the national right to abortion being annulled in 2020. Protesters two years after Roe v. Wade, the ruling that guaranteed women’s national right to abortion, was overturned Photo: Evelyn Hockstein / Reuters When he moves back into the White House in January 2025, there is a good chance that he will bring in three new justices – maybe even four . In that case, the conservatives will again have a majority of six to three, or perhaps seven to two, in the Supreme Court. – It has a lot to say. It was they who in July gave the presidents almost complete legal immunity, says Mjelde. But lower courts can also become important. Recently, a Trump-appointed judge in Florida dismissed the criminal case against Trump over stolen classified documents, a serious case under the Espionage Act. Published 09.11.2024, at 20.46
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That is why the election to the Congress is important – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
