President-elect Donald Trump has so far been relatively quiet as Republican senators have been slow to show their support for some of his Cabinet nominees.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) opened the door to backing Pete Hegseth, Trump’s embattled nominee to lead the Pentagon, in the latest sign Republican opposition to his confirmation may be softening.
Trump’s allies had signaled that Ernst and others could face Republican primary challenges if they didn’t get on board with the president-elect’s nominees. Trump himself has largely stayed above the fray.
When Trump was elected, there was widespread speculation he would seek to sidestep the Senate as much as constitutionally possible while installing his Cabinet, even though Republicans will take control of the chamber in January. During the Senate Republican leadership elections, he took to social media to urge the winner to allow recess appointments for his nominees. During his first term, Trump often issued directives to Republican leaders on the website then known as Twitter, with decidedly mixed results.
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But Trump has since dispatched two of his more controversial nominees to meet with Republican senators weeks ahead of any possible confirmation hearings. The meetings have reportedly gone well for Hegseth, who has also enjoyed strong support on television, radio, and social media in attempting to salvage his endangered nomination. The meetings appeared to go less well for former Rep. Matt Gaetz, with the Florida Republican since withdrawing from consideration to be the next attorney general.
Predictions that Trump will change his tactics or tone rarely pan out. It is possible his red line on Cabinet nominees will be Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for the secretary of health and human services or former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for the director of national intelligence. Both are recent ex-Democrats and progressives, yet they were arguably more important to Trump building a winning coalition than Hegseth or Gaetz.
All it takes is one late-night or early-morning Truth Social post from Trump to signal a change in direction or a return to his more bellicose form.
But Trump has thus far been content to let his lieutenants, and the nominees themselves, do the fighting for him. And many of his nominees should be confirmed easily.
“If you go back 32 years, there are only two nominees out of 72 Cabinet secretary nominees in which senators of the president-elect’s party voted against them,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) told Fox News on Monday. “Nobody should be surprised that a Republican Senate is gonna confirm the Republican president-elect’s Cabinet secretaries.”
Donald Trump Jr. posted last week, “If you’re a GOP Senator who voted for Lloyd Austin but criticize Pete Hegseth then maybe you’re in the wrong political party!”
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, a Republican, penned an article arguing her constituents wanted Trump’s Cabinet picks confirmed.
“Iowans delivered Trump the largest margin of victory in the Hawkeye State since 1972, even after being told by the fools’ ‘gold standard’ pollster that Trump would lose the state,” Bird wrote, referring to a Des Moines Register poll that showed Vice President Kamala Harris ahead the weekend before the election. “It was as clear of a message as possible, or so I thought. In recent days, it’s become clear that D.C. politicians think they can ignore the voices of their constituents and entertain smears from the same outlets that have pushed out lies for years.”
Bird did not mention Ernst by name. But Trump ally Charlie Kirk did.
“People in Iowa have a well-funded primary challenger ready against her,” Kirk wrote on X, the Elon Musk-owned social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “Her political career is in serious jeopardy.”
“Republicans are totally behind [Trump’s] agenda and are totally supportive of him putting the right people in place so he can solve the country’s problems,” Trump pollster John McLaughlin told RealClearPolitics. “If certain Republican senators side with the Democrats, they do so at their own peril.”
So Trumpworld isn’t exactly taking Republican intransigence lying down. But one troubled Trump nominee has already been pulled, and the other has been encouraged to make the case to Republican senators that he should be confirmed.
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“I’ve had a lot of senators call me up, saying that he’s fantastic,” Trump told NBC’s Meet the Press when asked if he had received assurances from Senate Republicans that Hegseth would be confirmed.
Trump stopped short of saying he had gotten such assurances but reiterated his confidence in both Hegseth’s ability to do the job and the likelihood that he would be confirmed.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
