When Trump Goes Out Like a Lion

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Donald Trump is not the first president whose party got wiped out in a midterm election. Bill Clinton summarized the Democrats’ sweeping losses in 1994 by saying, “We got the living daylights beat out of us.” George W. Bush and Barack Obama referred to their parties’ overwhelming defeats as “a thumping” and “a shellacking,” respectively.

Trump took a different tack. After asserting on election night that Republicans would have enjoyed a landslide victory if he had been on the ballot, he finished his week with a personnel announcement that reflected his reaction to the overwhelmingly one-sided outcome—and frightened the living daylights out of official Washington. His quote:

“I am pleased to announce that Mr. Stephen Miller, the current Deputy Chief of Staff of the Trump Administration, and one of my most trusted advisors, will become the Chief of Staff starting Monday, November 9, 2026.”

Ever since the scope of the Democratic victories became clear on Tuesday night, speculation was widespread about how Trump would react to his party’s defeat. The president initially indicated that he might be willing to cooperatively work with Democrats. But promoting Miller, who has overseen the administration’s most aggressive and restrictionist immigration policies, seems designed to signal an even more combative and confrontational White House going forward.

Even in the face of one of the most sweeping midterm election landslides in modern history, Trump is not backing down. (Eleven years into the Trump era, those words should not be especially surprising.) But selecting Miller to run the White House essentially amounts to a declaration of war against the new Democratic majority that they should expect little or no cooperation from the president on… almost anything. But this also creates an immense division among Republicans: traditional GOP allies in business, agriculture, and hospitality rely heavily on migrant labor, and they have always been able to count on outgoing chief Susie Wiles to rein in the president’s most aggressive immigration plans. No more.

The Democrats’ challenge is a more immediate one. They have indicated an extremely aggressive oversight effort against what they argued in the campaign was unprecedented misconduct by the president, his advisors, and his family. There was never a strong likelihood that the White House would cooperate with the investigations, but the pugnacious Miller will almost certainly mount a full-scale counter-attack against Congress. Expect a steady stream of threats, insults, and accusations in both directions, and watch for how Democratic leadership navigates between its most aggrieved members, who are craving revenge against the administration, and those elected in more competitive races who want to focus their energies on economic and affordability legislation.

Divisions within the GOP will start to surface this week when defeated Republican House member and Trump nemesis Thomas Massie introduces impeachment charges against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. But Miller’s presence will exacerbate post-landslide tensions between those party members maintaining their loyalty to the president and those who want to take the party in a decidedly different direction. 

The clashes between pro-Trump and pre-Trump forces will come to a head during the next presidential primaries, but brutal internal clashes over immigration policy will come much more quickly. The president appears to have selected his new chief of staff to reassure MAGA nation that he is still committed to their goals. The nation’s business leaders and their Bush-Romney Republican allies will see this as their first opportunity in many years to fight back. The battle for control of the post-Trump Republican Party will make the Reagan-Bush and Goldwater-Rockefeller encounters look mild by comparison.

Miller’s appointment also sends a message to the rest of the world, as US international allies and adversaries are scrambling to figure out how to approach their dealings with our country as the end of the Trump era draws closer. Outgoing presidents have historically turned their attentions to foreign policy, where annoying members of Congress have less clout. Trump seems inclined to shift his focus overseas as well, but Miller’s presence at his elbow suggests an even more belligerent agenda on trade, immigration, and perhaps military policy. 

No one ever expected Trump to gently into the good night. (“Gently” is an adverb that is rarely employed in this administration.) But at this very early stage of his last lap around the track, it seems safe to assume that this president will exit kicking and screaming. Which will not be all that different from his entrance.