Democrats may have ridden a blue tsunami into taking back control of Congress in the Midterms, but at least one high-ranking party member is issuing a stark warning.
Even though President Donald Trump has vowed to become “Mr. Veto,” Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren says Democrats need to deliver for voters no matter what.
Warren agreed in an interview with The New York Times that Trump can indeed veto anything he wants, but she insisted there are areas of agreement between the two parties. She suggested issues like ending private equity’s outsized grip on housing in the U.S. and capping credit card fees are things both parties can agree on.
“If Democrats don’t deliver — or at least get caught trying — then it will be damned hard to go back to the American people and ask them to put us in charge again,” Warren told the Times.
Two days before the midterms on Nov. 1, Trump promised in a Fox News interview to use his veto power to force Democrats to the table to make a deal if they won control of Congress. He also pointed out he’s faced the same situation before when Republicans lost control of the House in 2019.
“Well, if that happens, I guess I’ll become Mr. Veto … and then at some point we’ll probably make deals. That’s what happened. I mean this is, this wouldn’t be the first time,” Trump hostilely declared.
“You’ll have a president and you won’t have the House or the Senate. They’ll be sending stuff up. You veto it and eventually after a month or two of getting all vetoed … they come over and you make a deal. I think that probably would happen,” the president said, seeming to hold out hope at the time that polling and voter sentiment wasn’t as bad as predicted.
But it was.
Then, right after the election, Republicans’ losses became clearer; Trump on social media posted a picture of his red MAGA ballcap with the word “VETO” emblazoned across it.
And again, on Sunday Nov.8 after the worst GOP election drubbing in decades, Trump doubled down on his threat to use his veto power to limit Democrats.
In an interview on the New York Post’s “Pod Force One” podcast, he repeated his threats. He said he expected to issue vetoes for “a month or two” before reaching agreements with Democrats, The Independent reported.
“I guess I’ll become Mr. Veto,” he repeated to the Post before adding, “And then at some point, we’ll probably make deals.”
Trump can veto as many bills as he likes, but if both chambers of Congress muster a two-thirds vote, they can override a presidential veto and pass a bill into law anyway.
But Warren, a former 2020 presidential contender, says Democrats should not let Trump’s “Mr. Veto” threats impact their agenda or policies. And they should not delay in hopes of winning the presidency in 2028.
“It would be a tremendous breach of faith with Americans if Democrats spend the next few years railing against Trump and waiting for some future Democratic trifecta before we deliver real change,” she told the Times.
She also said the party needs to call Trump out and force his hand on policies that are also popular among Republicans.
“He claims he wants to lower costs, then let’s put a lot of proposals in front of him,” she said. Some of those could include raising the federal minimum wage, banning AI surveillance pricing and banning stock trading among members of Congress, the Times reported.
The president did actually sound a bit conciliatory right after the election, where Democrats flipped as many as seven Senate seats and more than 40 House seats.
“I’ll get along, probably, with the Democrats, unless they want to be destructive,” Trump told reporters last week, according to PBS.
But after the release of the first promising jobs report in months, Trump lashed out at Democrats again.
“Democrats may control Congress, but I will NEVER stop fighting for you, and I will VETO anything that hurts America,” he told his supporters in a text message, the outlet reported.
Experts say Democrats have received a clear mandate from voters: lower inflation and lower prices. In other words, address the affordability crisis affecting so many Americans.
