It’s being called regime change given the Democratic sweep of midterm elections across the nation, especially in once Republican-dominated Texas where Democrats won all the statewide races and the U.S. Senate seat. And Democrats won four of the five Trump-induced gerrymandered districts in the Longhorn State.

But it’s considerably short of true regime change with President Donald Trump left in the White House for two years and whose reaction to the drubbing of MAGA and the Republican Party was to sport a new red hat in place of his MAGA hat that reads “veto,” a reminder that even with historic Democratic wins in House and Senate, they do not have the votes to override Trump’s vetoes for the next two years.

Trump’s veto pen is likely to run out of ink regularly, but if Democrats play it smart, they will immediately send Trump bills aimed specifically at the tariffs that have wreaked havoc with the economy and had such a negative impact on farmers, small businesses and consumers in general. Trump will likely use his veto on the removal of tariffs, and then let’s see how Republicans react.

Republicans in the past have joined Democrats on resolutions calling for a halt to the tariffs, so they may vote to part with Trump and vote to override. It may come down to whether they think they can survive a primary in 2028 without Trump’s support. Or the alternative: secure Trump’s blessing, whatever that’s worth two years from now when they are also acutely aware of how many of their red state colleagues had their lunch handed to them in the recent general election.

Republicans who choose to stand with Trump on the tariffs will also know Democrats will have a scorecard to turn loose in TV ads and social media showing voters how Republican incumbents handled the tariff vote. Even more ruby-red Republicans in Congress could find themselves searching for work with the lessened influence of MAGA escorting them to retirement.

The goal is not just to slow down the vengeful Trump when it comes to the kinds of tariffs he imposed on Canada. It is also to return the White House in 2028 to decency and integrity and slam its doors to the cruelty, misogyny and racism that typify the Trump presidency and the Republican Party he has commandeered since 2016. And the most immediate path to assuring that such behavior never surfaces again in the White House is to reduce the MAGA minority that applauded and encouraged the coarsest and crudest behavior of Trump to a splinter group unable to dictate a Trump-like successor.

New Democratic governors should speak out loudly and clearly against Trump’s mismanagement of the economy and its impact on their constituents from California to Maine and down to Florida. The 2028 election must not come down to who is more liberal or conservative, but which party has performed well in strengthening an economy that works for all Americans.

The newly elected governors are also in the perfect moment to question the brazen and violent tactics of immigration agents in their communities. Here, they can take a lesson from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who spared no words in criticizing the unwarranted violent use of force on his constituents.

Although foreign policy seldom gains the attention of Americans as domestic policy does, the new majority in Congress must speak out forcefully for our allies and trading partners across the Atlantic. It must find ways to show support for Ukraine, circumventing Trump’s treasonous relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and strengthening the hand of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in defending against deadly missiles and drones.

Putin chose to perpetrate one of his deadliest and most damaging attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure at the very moment American media was singularly focused on election results. Now is the moment for Democrats and those Republicans such as Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida willing to part ways with Trump on policy to send a message to Putin that America stands firmly with Ukraine against his unbridled assault on Ukrainians. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is the obvious place to start now that Trump toady Idaho Sen. Jim Risch, the soon-to-be the former chair of the committee, will be in the minority.

The new Democrat-led Congress can also use its investigatory power to call members of the Trump administration and members of the Trump family to the committee table to call out their corruption at the highest level of the federal government, almost as though it was scripted by Trump, the peerless corruption artist. And hearings on how the Department of Justice under Trump has trampled on the rule of law are in order.

As for the Republican Party of the future, it will be a civil war between those like DeSantis, hardly a moderate, but willing to strike out against some of Trump’s policies, and members of the hardcore right who just did not get the message wrapped up for them by voters across a new America who will not tolerate a Republican Party with any Trump or MAGA designs on it.

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Bob Kustra served as Illinois lieutenant governor and 10 years as an Illinois Republican state lawmaker before serving for 15 years as president of Boise State University. He is host of the “Readers Corner” podcast.

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