The House GOP is more aligned with Trump than ever: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

In today’s edition, national political reporter Ben Kamisar examines how House Republicans are growing increasingly aligned with Donald Trump. Plus, "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker looks back at how Trump's Cabinet announcements from right yers ago compare to now.

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The House GOP is more aligned with Trump than ever

By Ben Kamisar

President-elect Donald Trump and the GOP believe Americans delivered them a mandate last week when they handed the party unified control of Washington. And a look at the dynamics in both chambers of Congress shows how their agenda might be easier for Trump to push through the House than the Senate.

About two-thirds of the House GOP majority taking office next year (pending the results of the final races yet to be called by NBC News’ Decision Desk) joined Congress in 2017 or later. For these members, they only know a world where Trump has been a leader of their party.

“If Donald Trump says jump 3 feet high and scratch your head, we all jump 3 feet high and scratch your heads. That’s it,” Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, told my colleague Kyle Stewart on Wednesday. “He’s the greatest thing since sliced bread.” 

It’s unclear how much runway House Republicans will actually have — they’re expected to have only a narrow majority when the dust settles, and Trump is only complicating that with plans to nominate a handful of House Republicans to serve in his administration.

Even though the GOP’s majority in the House will be far smaller now than it was during the beginning of his first term, Trump will likely be working with a far more pliable group of Republicans this time, plus a House speaker he sees as an ally.

It won’t exactly be the same dynamic in the Senate, where Republicans will have either a two- or three-seat majority (depending on the results in Pennsylvania). Newly elected Senate GOP leader John Thune certainly isn’t a Trump antagonist, but he’s a descendent of the institutional Republican Party.

And while the Senate GOP conference has gotten more pro-Trump over the years, a majority of the new Senate will have started their tenure in the body before Trump took office. And a handful served in the House pre-Trump, but not the Senate.

Senators are also elected to six-year terms, as opposed to two years in the House, which contributes to the trend.

It’s a dynamic worth keeping tabs on, especially as Senate Republicans begin the process of vetting Trump’s Cabinet picks.

Trump’s Cabinet picks: Then vs. now

By Kristen Welker

On “Meet the Press” last Sunday, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told me Senate Republicans were looking forward to “moving quickly” on President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks so Trump “can hit the ground running come Jan. 20.”

Barrasso wasn’t kidding.

Just this week alone — more than 60 days before the inauguration — Trump has already announced his picks to lead the State Department (Marco Rubio), Justice Department (Matt Gaetz), Defense Department (Pete Hegseth), Department of Health and Human Services (Robert F. Kennedy Jr.), Interior Department (Doug Burgum) and other positions like director of national intelligence (Tulsi Gabbard).

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That’s a significant departure from Trump’s first term, when he was still weighing his Cabinet options at this same point in 2016. (Remember those interviews at Trump Tower from eight years ago?) 

Another difference from eight years ago is how many of the establishment Cabinet picks back then — think James Mattis at the Pentagon, John Kelly at the Department of Homeland Security and even Jeff Sessions as attorney general — have been replaced by outsiders such as Hegseth and RFK Jr. 

But what hasn’t really changed is the frenzied news cycle and the deluge of announcements via social media that come with Trump’s return to office. They’re just happening much earlier than they did eight years ago.

When it comes to his current picks, Trump is absolutely stress-testing whether Republican senators will break with him over some of his more controversial selections, like Gaetz and RFK Jr.

And while there has been some GOP backlash to Gaetz, for example, it’s a move that’s exactly in line with what Trump signaled he’d do on the campaign trail, where he talked about overhauling the Justice Department.

Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon told me this week that what Trump wants is to take a “blowtorch” to the Justice Department, and he sees Gaetz as that “torch.” 

And this is important: While a number of lawmakers have expressed skepticism about Gaetz, no Republican senator has explicitly said they won’t vote for him — at least not yet.

Trump transition watch

Here’s the latest news and updates on President-elect Donald Trump’s picks to fill out his Cabinet and other key advisory roles:

• Speaker Mike Johnson said he would “strongly request” that the House Ethics Committee not release a report detailing its investigation into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., Trump’s pick for attorney general.
• Gaetz has also spread lies about the attack on the Capitol and championed the cause of Jan. 6 defendants whose cases he would oversee if confirmed to lead the Justice Department.
• Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, was investigated in 2017 over “an alleged sexual assault” at a California hotel that was hosting a gathering of Republican women, police said Friday.
• Trump’s selection of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services secretary earned mixed reviews from the senators needed to support his confirmation.
• Democrats and good-government groups are skeptical of how much influence Trump’s outside advisory commission chaired by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will have over government spending and the state of the federal workforce.
• Trump announced that he will nominate Todd Blanche, one of his criminal defense lawyers, to be deputy attorney general.
• And Trump chose former Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., an Iraq War veteran, to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs.

That’s all from the Politics Desk for now. If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com

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