The last Republican-owned Washington was during Trump’s first term.
President Donald Trump-elect has reclaimed his title in a landslide victory becoming the second president in U.S. history to serve two nonconsecutive terms, and what is also leading up to become a Republican-controlled Washington.
As of Nov. 8, Republicans have taken control of the Senate, and are 6 seats away from claiming the House, with Republicans leading by 211–199.
The House of Representatives and the Senate make up for the Legislative branch, one of the three branches of the U.S. government. Their main responsibilities are drafting and passing laws, in which the other two branches, the president, enforces into law, and the judiciary branch applies them.
A Republican-controlled Washington would be more unified along key interests and more effective at agreeing upon and passing laws. The downside of this equation is that legislation could be one-sided with no one to serve as a check and balance.
The last time Republicans controlled Washington was during Trump’s previous term from 2017–2019, during which he achieved major tax reform legislation and “massive deregulation” to spur business growth, with which he managed to eliminate 22 regulations for every new one created in his first year.
Trump’s previous term is also credited for the historical Abraham Accords, a series of normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab nations earning Trump a Nobel Peace Prize nomination.
This time Trump will come into office with a lot more political experience under his belt when he takes control in 2025, following through with his main objectives of ending the illegal immigration crisis, with plans to enforce the Southern border, and ending the war in Ukraine, which he has promised to do before his inauguration next year.
Some of his campaign allies, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Elon Musk, will likely play a role in the new administration, with Kennedy and Trump’s campaign initiative “Make America Healthy Again” aiming to revolutionize the health branch of government and solve America’s health crisis.
Musk has discussed plans with Trump about heading a new Department of Government Efficiency which Musk thinks would be key to tackling inflation.
Trump is also a great believer of domestic energy and has plans to boost the industry by promoting oil, coal, and gas production as he did in his first term.
In terms of foreign policy, Trump has a history of liking tariffs, and has suggested the idea of bartering taxation for government funding through tariffs on foreign goods, particularly 60 percent rates on goods from China.
All in all, a Trump term will be in striking contrast to outgoing President Joe Biden’s.
The first president to win two nonconsecutive terms in office was President Grover Cleveland, who served in the White House from 1885–1889, then again from 1893–1897.