Tropic Thunder

brian schatz
In the wake of Trump and Elon Musk’s bid to shut down USAID, Schatz vowed to place holds on Trump’s State Department nominees until the agency was up and running again. Photo: Jason C. Andrew/Bloomberg/Getty Images
John Heilemann
February 5, 2025

In the face of Donald Trump’s blizzard of executive actions in his first two weeks back in the big chair—some of it purely performative, some legally dubious (at best), all plainly designed to disrupt established norms and long-standing precedents with respect to the division of power between the presidency and Congress—the Republican majorities in the House and Senate have shown little appetite for pushback. In fact, many seem to welcome the usurpation of their traditional prerogatives. Meanwhile, Democrats, befitting their minority status in both chambers, have expressed plenty of desire to push back, but have been at a loss regarding how to do it.