Reuters: Trump White House Readies Executive Playbook If Democrats Win

President Donald Trump’s White House is not waiting for Tuesday’s results to plan its next move. Senior aides have spent months mapping out how the president could keep his agenda moving through executive power if Democrats win control of Congress, Reuters reported Sunday, citing a White House official and two people familiar with the plans.

According to Reuters, deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and budget director Russell Vought have worked with the White House Counsel’s Office since April to identify actions on immigration, tariffs, housing costs and federal spending that would not need a vote in Congress. The three sources spoke on condition of anonymity, the outlet said.

Trump White House maps path to govern without Congress if Democrats win https://t.co/gyUjGqxk4s

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What is on the list

The White House official told Reuters that options under consideration include new tariffs on imports of critical minerals and wind turbines, tighter visa rules for international students and temporary foreign workers, and steps aimed at lowering housing and construction costs. Federal agencies have already submitted proposals and legal reviews of what the administration could do on its own, one of the people said, according to the report.

Vought’s Office of Management and Budget is examining which priorities can move forward with money Congress has already appropriated, two of the sources told Reuters. The outlet reported that Vought also wants to change federal grant rules to give political appointees more say over which programs receive taxpayer dollars.

White House counsel Will Scharf and his team are studying “what Trump can legally do on his own, where he could push the limits of his authority and how to defend those decisions in court,” the White House official told Reuters. The report said the administration plans to seek Justice Department legal opinions to back those moves if they are challenged.

Trump has been briefed on the planning and has taken part in the discussions, the official said, according to Reuters. Asked how comfortable the president would be governing through executive authority under a Democratic Congress, one source answered, “very comfortable,” the outlet reported.

Bracing for subpoenas

The preparations also cover the investigations Democrats have signaled they would launch. Reuters previously reported that senior House Democrats and committee aides have discussed using hearings, subpoenas and document requests to look into the administration. According to Sunday’s report, White House lawyers have been briefing political appointees and agency leaders on how to handle congressional inquiries and have advised them to be careful about what they put in writing. The administration has also sought a Justice Department opinion on invoking executive privilege over communications with outside advisers, one person told Reuters.

White House: no surrender

The White House rejected the premise that Republicans will lose. “This administration and commonsense Republicans will continue to secure our borders, restore law and order, putting more money back into the pockets of hard-working Americans, and deliver wins for the American people,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said, according to Reuters.

Republicans currently hold the House 218-214 and the Senate 53-47, according to Reuters, which noted that polls favor Democrats to flip the House while the Senate remains too close to call. A Democratic Senate could block Trump’s judicial and executive-branch nominees, University of Tennessee professor Andrew Busch told the outlet, but Trump would keep his veto pen, and Democrats are unlikely to have the votes to override him.

For voters heading to the polls Tuesday, the report underlines what is at stake: a Republican Congress that passes the president’s agenda, or a Democratic one that spends 2027 on subpoenas while the White House governs around it.

Sources

• Reuters via Global News: How Trump plans to govern if Democrats take Congress (Nov. 1, 2026)
• Reuters via Internazionale: Trump White House maps path to govern without Congress if Democrats win (Nov. 1, 2026)
• Times of India: How Trump plans to deal with Democrat-controlled Congress after US midterms (Nov. 1, 2026)
• Reuters Legal on X

Reporting by Daily Beltway.