If so, kudos to Senate Republicans for recognizing the priorities of a new administration and new control of Congress. The Protection Racket Media has spent a lot of time trying to toxify Donald Trump's Cabinet appointments, who will begin their confirmation hearings tomorrow. (We will be live blogging the proceedings in addition to our regular work to cover any developments, so be sure to stay tuned here!)
With the exception of Matt Gaetz -- whose unpopularity on Capitol Hill made that choice a long shot anyway -- Trump has refused to play along and remained insistent on his nominees. A handful of Senate Republicans tried pushing back on a handful of these nominees, only to get shouted down by their constituents who just got Trump elected to make these choices.
Now CNN is reporting that the Senate GOP caucus has united to give Trump the Cabinet he has chosen, as long as they can make it through the confirmation hearings without torpedoing their own candidacies. Skip ahead to 4:40ish in this clip to get to the prediction:
January 13th, 2025 1025 am ET - Washington, D.C. - CNN Newsroom Anchor, Jim Acosta @acosta w/
— Jeff Storobinsky (@jeffstorobinsky) January 13, 2025
CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju @mkraju
Focus: This Week's Senate Confirmation Hearings for Trump's cabinet nominees pic.twitter.com/vKvESKgLJu
Every single one of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees may skate through the confirmation process according to CNN’s Manu Raju. ...
“Manu, are any of these picks in jeopardy? What do you think?” asked Acosta.
“Right now, it appears that a lot of them — if not all of them — will be confirmed. But there are still questions about how they will perform at this, these critical sometimes make-or-break moments during these confirmation hearings,” answered Raju. “Do they stumble? Do they offer any ammunition to one side or the other?”
"But for the moment, the Republicans are in line. And that’s really all that these nominees need in order to be confirmed."
"For the moment"? The moment has all but arrived, no? Trump wasted little time after winning the election in announcing his new administrative nominations, unlike his first transition getting down into secondary and tertiary levels in a few cases. The nominees have spent most of two months being targets and/or punching bags for the media, and (with the exception of Gaetz) have only solidified their position in advance of their confirmation hearings.
Give the Senate Republican caucus credit for not falling for the banana-in-the-tailpipe trick this time. Newly minted Senate Majority Leader John Thune deserves credit for keeping their focus on getting the new administration and the new session of Congress off to the best start possible for a president who can't run for another term and a Senate whose majority will be at a disadvantage in 2026's midterms.
Trump and the Republicans on Capitol Hill may only have two years in which to dismantle Joe Biden's incompetence and authoritarian diktats and put the US on a firmer footing domestically as well as internationally. Neither can ill afford to waste that time quibbling about Trump's choices to run the various agencies. If they turn out to be poor choices, that's Trump's responsibility rather than Senate Republicans. If they interfere and the replacement turns out to be poor, then it becomes their responsibility, and in the meantime, the agenda gets slowed down or obstructed altogether while an internecine food fight plays out.
We saw Trump put an end to that at the beginning of the year in the House. Despite the fact that Trump clearly would lead on the agenda in this session of Congress, a handful of House Republicans tried again to open a food fight over Mike Johnson's position as Speaker. (Johnson didn't help his case in the CR fight, admittedly, but he was also still dealing with Democrat control of the Senate and White House.) The dispute eventually fizzled down to three rebels, but Trump forced the issue by ripping them for "screwing it all up."
Trump certainly understands the urgency of striking while the iron is hot. His personal popularity has never been higher, and the momentum for change is cresting at the very least. To get the biggest changes accomplished, Trump needs his team in place fast, as well as congressional majorities that are united and focused on task. That's because Trump himself will be busy delivering "shock and awe" through executive orders, as John Barrasso said yesterday, to reorient the executive branch:
President-elect Donald Trump will issue “a blizzard of executive orders” as soon as he inaugurated Jan. 20, Sen. John Barrasso predicted Sunday.
Speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” the Wyoming Republican said: “When President Trump takes office next Monday, there is going to be shock and awe with executive orders. A blizzard of executive orders on the economy, as well as on the border.”
Executive orders, for better or worse, allow a president to bypass Congress. But Barrasso, the new Senate majority whip, said that he expects Trump to also rely on the narrow Republican majority in the Senate and even more slender one in the House to get his agenda enacted.
Ahem. EOs do not "bypass Congress," at least not those that courts will allow to remain in effect. EOs do not have any impact beyond what is already in the purview of executive authority, either constitutionally or in statutes already passed by Congress. The problem with EOs is not that they bypass Congress but that Congress ceded so much jurisdiction to the executive branch in the enabling statutes. That doesn't mean these EOs will go unchallenged in court, but activists will have a headache in keeping up with the flood.
However, in order for the "shock and awe" to take effect, Trump will need his Cabinet in place to follow those EOs. It looks like Republicans have briefly stopped being the Stupid Party long enough to recognize that. Good.
