President-elect Trump is quickly testing the will of Senate Republicans, asking them to back controversial picks to his Cabinet such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), while at the same time demanding they give him more power by easing recess appointments.
His dual calls essentially demand loyalty from GOP senators to not only back his most divisive appointments, but to give up their power in general over the vetting process. And he’s doing it at a moment where his own political power is at a high point.
“There are going to be a few tests in there,” said Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), who is leaving the Senate to become the Indiana governor in January. “I think that, in general, the slate of nominees has been sending that message that we’re going to shake the system up.”
Republicans could be forgiven for feeling a bit of whiplash, particularly as Trump has offered a series of nominations with one more controversial than the next.
On Tuesday evening, he said he would nominate Fox News host Pete Hegseth to lead the Pentagon, a choice few saw coming given his relative lack of experience.
The next day, Trump formally announced his pick of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) to be secretary of State, a much less controversial pick that might have left some GOP senators breathing a sigh of relief.
Before they could complete those sighs, Trump tapped former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii), who has raised eyebrows in the past for remarks that seemed to echo Russian state media reports, to lead the office of the director of national intelligence.
Minutes later, he outdid himself, announcing that he’d nominate Gaetz, who had been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, among other issues, to be attorney general. The Florida congressman, who was instrumental in getting former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) tossed from his position, is controversial with members of both parties.
Not to be outdone, Trump on Thursday picked antivaccine skeptic Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. This was also a surprise, as many observers thought that RFK Jr. would get a position in the Trump administration that did not require Senate confirmation.
The choices are rankling segments of Senate Republicans to varying degrees. However, they are also a sign that Trump is hellbent on delivering on what he sees as a mandate from voters — and some members acknowledge that he is following through on that promise.
“The president campaigned on being a disruptor. We’re not going to do things the way they’ve been done, and I think what happened in [2017] with some of his nominees is I think he found himself in a position where he had to make decisions more quickly, he didn’t have time to think about it,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of GOP leadership. “Now, I think he’s making some quick decisions, but he knows what he wants from these people.”
“If you’re asking me if I think it’s a power play, I don’t think so,” she continued. “I think it’s following through with what he said he’s going to do.”
Heaping pressure on these tests of will among Senate Republicans is Trump’s out-of-the-blue call for the ability to ram through nominees via recess appointments, which caught them off guard on Sunday.
Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) signaled he was open to the idea but did not fully commit to it, even though he has loudly backed a swift and expeditious confirmation process for the president-elect’s Cabinet choices.
But a number of Republicans are also pouring cold water on that idea. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), an ardent Trump backer, told reporters that senators should be especially wary of the idea of a nominee without the support of 51 senators, as opposed to being subject to an effort to bring confirmations to a crawl by Democrats.
Senators are also generally displeased by the idea of going around the advise and consent role for nominations — a major role that members take pride in, especially as legislative fights on bills that are not must-pass items become few and far between.
But some lawmakers still see merit in what Trump’s attempting, especially on that Cabinet appointment side.
“Donald Trump is the world’s greatest trial balloon flier,” Cramer said, pointing to Trump’s first presidency when he allowed Cabinet members to disagree with one another in public. “That always kind of baffled people. I’ve always kind of loved it because he was testing, and [the nominations] may be something like that.”
“For the most part, I think Donald Trump is serious as a heart attack about all of these people,” he added. “He wants disruptors. He’s said that. He ran as a disruptor. He was elected as a disruptor.”
But among the major questions remains how Thune will handle some of these nominations, especially if they follow in the manner Gaetz’s has in little more than 24 hours, as multiple Republicans have effectively already deemed his choice dead on arrival.
Although Thune has promised a speedy push to confirm Trump’s Cabinet nominees, his inaugural test as leader may already have him between a rock and a hard place as he looks to placate not only his members, but the incoming president, who helped deliver major wins for the party.
“Anytime you’re a leader … there’s going to be a learning experience for it but he’s going to handle it,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.). “He does a good job and he speaks it well.
“He’s going to have to work his way through this threading the needle, so to speak,” he said. “We all know that.”
