Well, here we are, in a better place than we were a week ago. So what’s next?

I’ve just learned that Susie Wiles is stepping down as White House chief of staff and will be replaced by … Stephen Miller? Seriously? Starting Monday. I’m not kidding. This will be a bleeping mess. I wonder why Wiles is out, though? Are they blaming her for the Midterm disaster? This is from WaPo:

President Donald Trump’s long-serving and top aide Susie Wiles has been pushed out as chief of staff and will be replaced by Stephen Miller, the president announced Friday.

“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,” Trump wrote Friday afternoon on Truth Social.

“Susie Wiles, who has done an outstanding job, will be moving over to the Trump Political Operation. I want to thank her for her service as Chief of Staff.”

Why does Trump still need a Political Operation? Never mind.

My first big concern is that many things are already on track to get worse. As you know many cuts in the Big Ugly Bill don’t go into effect until the beginning of 2027, which will cause a lot of chaos in our mess of a health care system in particular.

See also Tech Stocks Had a Terrible Day. What’s Coming Could Be Worse. by a couple of guys in the New York Times. Or maybe you don’t want to read it; it’s pretty disturbing. There are signs the AI bubble is about to burst, which I wrote about on Monday. The effect of this is likely to be a lot worse than when the housing and dot com bubbles burst, the guys in the New York Times write.

So taking over some stewardship of the economy is going to have to be a big priority of the incoming Congress. My fear is that if the worst happens next year the Democrats will be blamed for it. And then voters might run back to the Republicans in 2028

Whatever else they do, the Dems have got to start directly communicating to constituents to let them know what’s going on and what they are doing about it. Stop expecting news media to speak for them. They should pay attention to the way Mayor Mamdani in NYC is using social media to get the word out about what he’s doing. Paying for some television ads to let people know what’s likely to happen next might be money well spent.

Whatever happens, we can’t afford a return to 2021, People voted in 2020 to get rid of MAGA, and then the Biden Administration (especially the Department of Justice) took its sweet time seeking accountability for Trump’s several malfeasances. And they ran out of time before Trump was re-elected.

And then there’s Trump’s awful building projects. Late yesterday a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from breaking ground on the ginormous arch next to Arlington for 14 days. This was minutes after Trump’s hand-picked minions on the National Capital Planning Commission gave their approval for work to commence.

Naturally Trump is expected to charge ahead with his projects as fast as he can. What can be done to stop him? Do see Trump May Come to Regret His Rush Job on the Arch and Ballroom by Janay Kingsberry at The Atlantic. The new Congress can cut off funding, among other things.

And then there’s Trump’s veto power. Assuming we end up with 56 senators, which seems likely, to override a presidential veto we’d need eleven Republicans to join all the Dems to make a two-thirds majority. That might not be impossible all the time, especially for any Republicans who are ready to break ties with Mr. Lame Duck.

We’ll have a massive majority in the House. As I write this Dems have won 253 seats, and Repubicans have 161. That leaves just 21 elections yet to be called. The majority of these are in southern and sun belt states and are more likely to go to Republicans than Democrats, but the Dems will still have a massive majority. It will fall short of two-thirds, however.

So on to the Iran War. This is by Andrew Roth in the Guardian:

“The Democrats taking control of both houses gives them unprecedented leverage – especially using the budget,” said Ryan Crocker, a former career diplomat and diplomatic fellow at the Middle East Institute, a thinktank. “We have seen the [Pentagon] request to dramatically increase funding to support the war with Iran come into substantial criticism from Democrats, and I think that will be the first battleground.”

Democrats will have an early opportunity to pressure the Trump administration during the lame duck session of Congress in December, when funding for the government through a continuing resolution is set to expire. They could also hold hostage the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act, demanding concessions on Iran or limits on Trump’s authority in order to pass the Senate version of the bill that would authorise about $1.15tn in national defense spending for 2027.

One progressive foreign policy thinktank suggested inserting language into the continuing resolution that would prevent Trump from using the money authorised by Congress to fund the war in Iran, as well as in Yemen, Lebanon and Gaza. But shutting down the government could be a “two-edged sword”, said Crocker, and Democrats would have to be careful not to overplay their hand.

It all depends on how much fight the outgoing Repubicans have left in them, I guess. Why anyone with any sense of self-preservation would stay aligned with Trump any more is beyond my comprehension. But I’m sure there are some who will stick with Trump.

And there have been lots of news stories that Pete Hegseth would be fired, but if Susie Wiles is the scapegoat, maybe not. I know a lot of the incoming Dems are itching to impeach Hegseth, though.