WASHINGTON: Don­ald Trump struck a surprisingly conciliatory tone after the Democratic sweep of the US midterm elections rendered him a lame-duck president. How long that will last is anyone’s guess.

From renewed military action against Iran to vetoing Democratic legislation, the volatile 80-year-old could still use his remaining powers to cause major disruption in his last two years in office.

Trump congratulated the Democrats on Tuesday and said he would be ready to work with them. He may have to, especially if Republicans turn on him over a defeat many of them blame on the Iran war.

But at the same time he posted a picture of a red baseball cap with the word “VETO.”

Trump’s administration has reportedly drawn up a plan to use executive orders to push through his hardline immigration policies, as he did in his first 100 days of his second term.

Foreign policy is the one area in which lame-duck US presidents still have wide-ranging powers.

Trump may renew large-scale military operations against Iran, although he indicated on Tuesday that he was still seeking a deal to end the war he launched in February.

“I don’t think he wants his legacy to be a warmonger. He wants his legacy to have left America stronger,” Ryan Hass of the Brookings Institution said.

Trump also dismissed speculation that he could fire Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth as the Iran war drags on, as part of a cabinet reshuffle.

Trump has long wanted to be seen as a peacemaker and is likely to continue to push Ukraine to agree to a settlement with Russia. Fresh trilateral talks are set for next week.

But Trump’s leverage with the leaders he views as his great power equals — Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin — may be hit by his midterms defeat.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2026