The House of Representatives remains red: the consequences of a three-pass so coveted by Donald Trump

Published on November 14, 2024 at 03:43. / Modified on November 14, 2024 at 12:02.

“We will strengthen the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, take back the Senate and send Donald Trump back to the White House,” announced Mike Johnson, Speaker of the Lower House during the last campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York. It is now done for the Republican camp, which achieves the trifecta: taking back the White House, the majority in the Senate and therefore maintaining their domination over the House of Representatives. A group shot which could greatly facilitate the implementation of the billionaire’s busy legislative agenda.

However, the current situation is far from extraordinary, on the contrary. Since 1857, the United States has seen its government unified 48 times – Congress and Oval Office of one color – and divided 38 times. There are even long periods with a single party in the three positions, with for example a Republican trifecta from 1897 to 1911 and from 1921 to 1931, or a Democratic one from 1933 to 1947, and from 1961 to 1969. Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump have governed with a majority in both Chambers: between 2017 and 2019 for the billionaire, and between 2021 and 2023 for the current president. Since the second half of the 20th century, however, these monochrome governments have become rarer and last less long. The person in power is often punished during midterm elections in one or both Houses of Congress. The last president to maintain a unified government for more than two years was George W. Bush between 2003 and 2007.

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