Hope springs eternal, but it will take more than crossed fingers to save Republicans from a beating this midterm. So it's an excellent moment to preview two years of Democratic House rule.
Speaker-in-waiting Hakeem Jeffries continues to play coy, insisting "facts" will guide his party's decisions on impeachments, investigations and legislation. Who is he kidding? The hard left is 18 months deep into its open plan to burn down the second Trump administration. What progressives want, history shows, Mr. Jeffries will bestow.
Texas Rep. Al Green filed a resolution of impeachment against Donald Trump in May 2025. He filed a second in December. His third went to the floor in September, and 147 Democrats, nearly 70% of the conference, voted to proceed. Forty-six more (including Mr. Jeffries and other leaders) voted "present." Only 18 were opposed.
Rep. John Larson (D., Conn.) introduced 13 articles of impeachment in April, centered on Mr. Trump's use of foreign force, deportations, pardons and more. Tennessee's Rep. Steve Cohen offered 26 articles in September, adding offenses like the president's IRS settlement and his demolition of the East Wing.
Even impeachment might not scratch the itch. Dozens of Democrats in April called for relieving Mr. Trump of his duties via the 25th Amendment. This inspired Maryland's Rep. Jamie Raskin -- in line to lead the Judiciary Committee -- to file a bill that would create a 17-member Commission on Presidential Capacity tasked with deeming the president unable to discharge his duties. It now has 85 Democratic cosponsors.
Mr. Trump will be the main course, his cabinet the appetizers. Republicans set this precedent with their ill-considered 2024 impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Democrats have already filed resolutions to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and budget director Russ Vought. Next up: Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel. More than 80% of the Democratic conference had signed on to impeaching former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem prior to her exit.
I count 11 House committees gearing up to launch investigations into at least 26 separate topics. Among them: the Trump family business, emoluments clause violations, pardons, the $1.776 billion "antiweaponization" fund, Jeffrey Epstein, immigration shootings and deportations, Iran, Venezuela, the use of Mr. Trump's circle (Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff) as diplomats, the Board of Peace, the Qatari Air Force One gift, tariffs, DOGE, the firings of inspectors general, political prosecutions, FBI actions under Mr. Patel; actions by former DHS official Corey Lewandowski, the ballroom, the Kennedy Center, energy and mining deals, federal contracting, corporations that "bow" to Trump pressure, actions against the media, actions against law firms, actions against universities, and taxpayer-funded advertising.
The catalog is already so long that some Democrats are mooting -- in the name of efficiency -- a new Jan. 6-style "select" committee for All Crimes Trump.
Members have already compiled vast lists of their subpoena targets -- a roster that includes the president himself (good luck) as well as members of his family and advisers like Stephen Miller and Susie Wiles. Corporate heads will be called to do penance. But so will average Joes -- ICE officers, ballroom contractors, DOGE volunteers.
The Democrats already have plans, and backup plans, for any refusal to comply. They'll go around, subpoenaing contractors, corporations, financial institutions, colleges, law firms. They'll file lawsuits. They'll initiate contempt proceedings. And, as hearings go on, they'll issue criminal referrals. The contempt and referrals will die in the Trump Justice Department, but Democrats' real goal will be dominating the narrative.
As will be their goal with legislation -- since it won't pass a Trump veto. They'll hold vote after vote on Mr. Trump's war powers -- pressuring him to pull back from conflicts. They'll exploit their power of the purse to condition spending, prohibit specific expenditures, restrict military operations and restart the federal spigot. They already have, or plan, bills to "reform" pardons, emergency powers, impoundment, inspector-general protections, foreign gifts, presidential disclosure rules, whistleblower laws, and prosecutions and settlements.
Republicans themselves leaned too heavily into oversight, though they wisely never dumped political capital into a formal Joe Biden impeachment and have kept attention this past year on their own agenda. Smart Democrats are counseling their party that this coming assault is folly -- the prior Trump pile-on didn't stop his re-election -- and warning that an impeachment-investigation maelstrom will eclipse Democratic efforts to highlight their own agenda.
They are whistling in the convective wind. More than a decade into opposing Mr. Trump, the left is on autopilot. Get ready for the drama.
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