The Blue Wave

Susan Estrich on Nov 5, 2026

It was President Donald Trump's worst nightmare. Remember, he's convinced that everyone loves him. Most of his life is organized so that's all he sees. But occasionally, it is reported, he changes the station. Even more occasionally, all the stations get changed on him and they all are telling the same story.

Trump repudiated. His war rejected. His economy crippled.

Does that mean the Trump era is over?

Don't celebrate too soon. He still controls the executive branch. He still can make war. He still can do all kinds of things people oppose; Stephen Miller is still writing executive orders; the ink won't even be dry. Trump is not going to give up. Neither is his version of the "deep state," which he is putting in place. They'll keep regulating, or not regulating, as the case may be.

The difference is that Congress will be pushing back on the Trump agenda instead of trying to implement it. That's as big a difference as Congress chooses to make it.

The Democratic committees are staffing up. They all doubled in size, which means twice as many lawyers and investigators going after the corruption that voters connected with their own economic woes. The exits showed widespread belief that Trump administration officials have gotten as rich as Achilles, like their boss, and that something is wrong with that. The Democratic committees will be vying with each other to investigate and expose corruption in the Trump administration. There looks to be plenty to go around.

The days of a Pete Hegseth as defense secretary are numbered. He couldn't get confirmed in the new Congress. Every appointee will have to survive some Democratic scrutiny. There will be no Supreme Court nominees approved. The question is whether Jamie Raskin will pursue his agenda to change the composition of the Court, which I expect he will, and who else will take the lead.

The Democrats also need a positive agenda. The mandate of this election was not only a resounding no to Trump, although that was the loudest voice. It is also a cry for help from people who don't normally vote Democratic, from people for whom affordability is a real crisis.

Will we use this opportunity to build a larger tent with the affordability/corruption issues?

What will all these bright new faces actually do affirmatively about the issues they've been talking about? How do you make this more/different than the party of Chuck Schumer?

Don't count on Trump to go gently in the night. He will push back. He will play nasty. He will sacrifice people he doesn't care about to protect himself. He will keep building. Congress can try to cut off the funds, but he'll find the money somewhere. That's how the game works, from here on out.

In the meantime, Trump is blaming, of all people, Fox News for putting on too many anti-Trumpers. Of all the things that did not cause Trump's downfall, inadequate fawning on Fox News was certainly not one of them. It's not so fun watching your team lose, which may be the real explanation for Fox's slide in the ratings.

But it's a new day for Trump. He lost. He will pay for that loss every day he has to deal with this new Congress. Just how much they will stop him remains to be seen.

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To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.