CNN’s Kaitlan Collins says the final two years of Donald Trump’s presidency are entering a dramatically different phase after Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections.
Opening Thursday night’s edition of The Source, Collins described a changing political landscape in Washington, with Democrats continuing to gain ground as several closely contested races remained unresolved.
“Safe to say change is in the air here in Washington tonight. And right now, the Democratic wave is, apparently, still growing,” Collins said.
“This hour, votes are still being counted in uncalled races across the country and Democrats are now on track to have more seats in the House than they’ve had since the early 1990s. Maybe surprising Democrats more than anyone.”
The CNN anchor highlighted two particularly close Senate contests: Mississippi, where Democrat Scott Colom was narrowly ahead of Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith, and Alaska, where Democrat Mary Peltola held a slim lead over Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan.
Both races remained uncalled at the time of her broadcast.
Collins said the results could take additional time to determine, particularly in Alaska, but argued that the larger political consequences were already becoming clear.
“And really, though, when you’re looking at the counting in Mississippi and in Alaska, no matter the outcome in any of those races, one thing is for sure tonight: the remaining two years of the Trump presidency are going to look a lot different than the last two.”
That changing reality could bring renewed congressional scrutiny of senior administration officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The broadcast discussed impeachment efforts involving Hegseth, including Republican Rep. Thomas Massie’s plan to seek a House vote on a resolution after lawmakers return to Washington.
Hegseth has rejected the effort, dismissing it as “sham articles of impeachment” promoted by political opponents. Trump has publicly defended his defense secretary, describing his performance as a “fantastic job.”
But the political fallout extends beyond Congress.
According to Collins, senior Trump administration figures gathered Thursday to discuss what she described as “the new reality” following the election results.
Trump himself did not attend that meeting, she reported.
Collins said officials had recognized that Republicans could lose both the House and Senate. Nevertheless, she reported that members of the president’s team were “shocked” by the scale of the Democratic victories.
The president, meanwhile, publicly criticized voters after the election.
“The Stock Market crashed today because the Dumocrats had a big Tuesday – So sad to see, you only have yourselves to blame!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Collins questioned that response, noting that Trump had personally supported Republican candidates who went on to lose major races.
“Blaming the voters is certainly an interesting strategy, given it was the president whose policies the voters themselves blamed,” she said.
The anchor also revisited Trump’s claim that Republicans would have won in a landslide if he had been on the ballot, contrasting it with his earlier campaign appeals for supporters to vote as though he were running.
But the broader message of Collins’ Thursday report was about the change in Washington’s balance of power.
With Democrats preparing to lead both chambers of Congress, the administration faces the prospect of congressional investigations, impeachment debates and a legislative environment far different from the one it operated in during the first half of Trump’s second term.
The remaining two years of the presidency, Collins argued, will unfold under a new set of political constraints.
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