Is Trump really a ‘lame duck’ after losing both houses of US Congress?

In posts on Truth Social following Tuesday’s midterm vote, Trump pinned the defeat on the fact that he wasn’t personally on the ballot, stressing that if he had been running, Republicans would have “won IN A LANDSLIDE!” But critics and commentators are already declaring that, with the Republican midterm losses, the president is “lame duck”. The ‘lame duck’ period for a president refers to the period at the end of a president’s term, usually after their successor has been elected but before they have left office.

An outgoing politician is largely believed to have considerably less influence due to their limited time remaining in office. The use of the term has expanded to include longer periods when the scheduled or expected departure of a politician results in a depreciation of their ability to influence policymaking.

With Trump leading the Republican Party and the Republicans in control of Congress, the president had a great deal of influence over the US legislative agenda.