Conservative paper reveals Trump’s lame duck agenda in sneering analysis

US President Donald Trump speaks with the media as he arrives at a Halloween party at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, US, October 31, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci

On Thursday, an analysis by the conservative newspaper the Washington Examiner revealed key elements in President Donald Trump’s lame-duck agenda over the next two years. Judging by the report’s tone, the Examiner wasn’t impressed by what it predicts from Trump and his allies: “obsolete” rhetoric and “shifting blame.”

As the Examiner notes, Trump woke up on Thursday morning to attack the Democrats via Truth Social first thing, before railing about “Iran, fraud, border security, and his tax returns.” He ordered Vice President JD Vance to investigate blue states for corruption, threatened Mexico with sanctions if they fail to stop supposed U.S.-bound migrants, and complained about Senate Republicans’ failure to pass his SAVE America Act. “In other words,” writes the Examiner, “It amounted to a selection of his greatest hits, reprising old themes and shifting blame for last week’s electoral disaster.”

“With the perceived loss by the Republicans in the Midterms – I was not on the ballot- the invasion of our Country is taking place again,” Trump ranted in one post. “Huge caravans are forming and beginning their illegal march through Mexico.” According to Trump, should Mexico fail to prevent these migrants – the majority of whom are unlikely to reach the U.S. border at all, according to experts – he will double tariffs on the country. This is despite data showing that voters overwhelmingly disapprove of Trump’s tariff regime, with midterm exit polls finding that 66 percent think they hurt the economy versus just 21 percent who said they helped.

And while Trump’s 60 Minutes interview just after the midterms seemed to imply that he was “softening” on immigration, according to the Examiner, “That approach didn’t last long. Soon after the interview was recorded on Friday, Trump announced that he was installing immigration hardliner Stephen Miller as White House chief of staff. Either way, his Truth Social screed marks a return to the rhetoric that helped him win a sensational election victory in 2024, and which became obsolete with the success of his border security policies.” Official numbers suggest that undocumented border crossings have dropped by 90 percent during Trump’s second term, though critics note that this was already part of a downward trend that began in 2024 due to prior policy shifts.

According to the Examiner, Trump’s other priorities were suggested in his post pulling Vance away from Iran peace talks. “I have asked Vice President Vance to focus his complete and total attention on the Massive Corruption and Crime taking place in Democrat run Cities and States throughout the U.S.,” posted Trump. So in other words, Trump is done with the war against Iran and shifting his focus to “shore up defenses” for his war against the Democrats. Whether any of Trump’s efforts end up impacting policy, writes the Examiner, “will now depend on a Congress he no longer fully controls, and on investigators who have not yet started. His agenda is a series of posts. The test is what happens after he stops typing.”

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