Executive action and congressional limits
Trump has bypassed lawmakers on decisions ranging from military action against Iran to the raid that seized former Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro at his Caracas compound. He has also sought to end birthright citizenship. An analysis in the i paper argues that courts, rather than Congress's 535 voting members, have provided the principal institutional resistance to his actions.
Executive orders are legally binding, though a later president can reverse them. Ballotpedia reported that, as of October 1, 2026, Trump had signed 508 across his two terms, placing him ninth among U.S. presidents by total orders issued. His second-term average of 173 a year was the highest among the seven presidents who have served since 1981. Biden averaged 41 annually; Franklin D. Roosevelt holds the overall record with 3,721.
The i analysis describes a Congress that has largely yielded its checking role: Democrats lack the votes to restrain Trump, while most Republicans have been unwilling to challenge him.
The Iran war tests congressional authority
The War Powers Resolution of 1973 limits military action without congressional approval to 60 days. Enacted during the Vietnam era, it followed successive presidents' expansion of the war in Southeast Asia without lawmakers' consent. When the deadline for the Iran war arrived in May, Trump argued that a ceasefire had paused the clock. Democrats challenged that position, while Republicans largely backed him.
Congress subsequently took a formal, though nonbinding, step against the hostilities. In June 2026, both chambers approved a concurrent resolution directing the removal of U.S. forces from hostilities with Iran—the first such approval by both chambers since the War Powers Resolution's enactment. H.Con.Res. 86 passed the House 215–208 on June 3 and the Senate 50–48 on June 23. The measure required no presidential signature, but it did not become law.
The war also presents an electoral risk for Republicans. According to figures reported by The Conversation, Nate Silver's national polling aggregate in mid-October showed 56.2% of Americans opposing the war and 35.2% supporting it. Regular gasoline averaged $4.30 a gallon, while Brent crude stood at $109.86 a barrel. The i analysis links the war-driven increase in fuel prices to the danger facing Republican incumbents.
USAID's closure and the spending dispute
The dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development raises a separate question about presidential control over institutions created by Congress. Lawmakers established USAID in 1961 and confirmed its independent status through the 1998 Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act. At the beginning of 2025, it had more than 10,000 employees and administered roughly $35 billion to $40 billion annually.
Executive action ended that independence. By July 1, 2025, USAID no longer operated as an independent agency, with its remaining functions transferred to the State Department, according to Americans for Propriety. That March, U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang had ruled that the early dismantling effort likely breached the separation of powers by denying Congress its authority to determine whether and how an agency it created should close.
The dispute continued after the closure. In February 2026, Congress passed P.L. 119-75, providing roughly $50 billion for foreign affairs in fiscal 2026—well above the administration's request—including about $9.4 billion for global health. In early May, the administration sought to redirect roughly $2 billion of the global-health allocation toward USAID's closure costs. Seventeen Senate Democrats formally objected.
A shift that began before Trump
Congress's constitutional tools remain extensive: control over spending and taxation, advice and consent on treaties, approval of presidential nominees, investigations, impeachment and removal, and a role in resolving a disputed presidential election. The i analysis argues that the Constitution's framers expected Congress to dominate the federal government, even as they gave substantial authority to a presidency they knew George Washington would first occupy.
In that analysis, the intended hierarchy has been reversed: the executive now leads, the Supreme Court—with its 6–3 conservative majority—comes next, and Congress ranks last.
This concentration of presidential power did not begin with Trump. Increasing partisanship after the Cold War made bipartisan legislation harder to pass, encouraging presidents to rely on executive orders. After Democrats lost control of Congress in the 2010 midterms, Barack Obama adopted the "We Can't Wait" agenda, arguing that Republican obstruction required executive action.
Military operations followed a similar pattern. Obama acted in Libya without seeking congressional approval, as Bill Clinton had done during the Kosovo War. The almost uninterrupted U.S. involvement in conflict since September 11 has further strengthened presidential authority.
The term "imperial president" was already associated with Richard Nixon's excesses in the early 1970s. During Watergate, however, senior Republicans went to the White House to tell Nixon he needed to resign. The i analysis contrasts that intervention with the reluctance of today's Republican leadership, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, to confront Trump.
What a Democratic majority could do
Voters will elect all 435 House members and fill 35 of the Senate's 100 seats on November 3, 2026. As of October 18, Nate Silver's forecast assigned Democrats a 94% chance of taking the House and a 75% chance of winning the Senate, according to The Conversation. Democrats led the generic congressional ballot by 9.6 percentage points, 51.3% to 41.7%. They need a net gain of at least four Senate seats because Vice President JD Vance can break a tied vote.
Trump's standing adds to the difficulties for Republican candidates. Silver's mid-October national polling aggregate put his net approval at -22.3, with 59.8% disapproving and 37.6% approving—a worse position than any previous president at this stage of a term since Harry Truman. Annual inflation reached 3.7% in September, the highest ahead of a midterm election since 1990 apart from the COVID period.
Democratic control could bring more frequent committee appearances by administration officials and subpoena-backed investigations into alleged corruption. A Senate majority could block new Cabinet nominees, while a House majority could impeach Trump for a third time.
Removing him would remain a much higher hurdle. Conviction in a Senate impeachment trial requires a two-thirds majority, meaning Democrats would need Republican senators to turn against the president.
