Some pundits who predicted a tight election were proven wrong as Election Day strongly favored the Republican party. The Presidency, House, and Senate will soon fall under their control.
Although Donald Trump’s reelection bid was declared victorious the morning after polls closed, both halves of the legislature were still up for grabs. However, Republicans established a clear majority in the Capital’s upper chamber within a few days, flipping four Democratic seats and boosting the GOP’s current total to 53.
Senate Republicans recently conducted a secret ballot for their new leader: John Thune. Despite previous animosity between the new majority leader and the president-elect, those familiar with the matter claim that Thune has been working to get on Trump’s good side. Whether or not the two will get along regarding matters of policy has yet to be seen.
Unlike the Senate, House results took longer to come out. The final numbers favor Republicans as well, with the party maintaining a majority in the lower chamber. The GOP cleared the threshold of 218 seats needed to keep the House, and a narrow, but likely decisive three-point lead in the race for Alaska’s representative should net them at least 219. The remaining four House races remain incredibly narrow, with a Democratic candidate in one California district leading by a mere 36 votes.
President-Elect Donald Trump has wasted no time in getting to work, rolling out announcement after announcement regarding his cabinet staff nominations, in the days since the election. For his second term, Trump is taking a vastly different approach to naming his White House and various department staff, attaching the most value to loyalty. Most recently, Trump named Chris Wright as his energy secretary; Wright, the CEO of the multi-billion dollar fracking company Liberty Energy, holds no government experience and has been an outspoken critic of efforts to halt climate change and switch to renewable energy, prompting some to claim that the pick was made solely based on the nominee’s loyalty.
Trump’s most controversial picks are Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host, for defense secretary, and Matt Gaetz, a Republican Representative from Florida, for attorney general. Both men have a history of sexual misconduct, with Hegseth having paid hush money to a woman who accused him of sexual assault in 2017; Gaetz was recently investigated by the House Ethics Committee under allegations that he maintained a sexual relationship with a 17-year old girl and violated federal sex trafficking laws while serving as a House Representative.
As it stands right now, Trump’s picks for several other Cabinet and White House roles other than those aforementioned are:
- Trump’s 2024 campaign manager Susie Wiles for Chief of Staff
- Republican Senator Marco Rubio for Secretary of State
- Trump’s personal lawyer Todd Blanche for Deputy Attorney General
- Environmental lawyer and political activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr for Health & Human Services secretary
- Republican Representative Elise Stefanik for U.N. Ambassador
- Former Director of ICE Tom Homan for “Border Czar”
All of the individuals nominated for Cabinet roles must be approved by the Senate. While many of Trump’s supporters in the voting populace as well as the Senate support many of his nominations, there is a significant number of Republican senators who express discontent with some of Trump’s picks. When asked about her thoughts on the nomination of Matt Gaetz for Attorney General, Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski from Alaska stated, “I don’t think it’s a serious nomination for the attorney general. We need to have a serious attorney general. And I’m looking forward to the opportunity to consider somebody that is serious.” Murkowski’s words reflect the sentiments of several Republican senators, causing some to speculate that Gaetz and several other of Trump’s picks may not be approved by the Senate.
Many believe that Trump’s picks represent an early attempt to test Congress. With the GOP controlling both the executive and legislative branches, and the Supreme Court retaining a conservative leaning, the only obstacle that stands in the way of the Trump administration’s agenda will be rogue Republican congressmen. By choosing polarizing nominees for top positions, Trump could effectively be testing who in the Senate will remain loyal to him, and who is open to doubt. In regards to the approval process of these controversial Cabinet picks, the new Senate Majority Leader John Thune warns “None of this is gonna be easy.”
The 2024 election was defined by a national shift to the right. These new sentiments have provided the President-elect with a mandate from his supporters in support of his agenda, and a Republican Congress capable of approving it. It remains to be seen whether Trump’s plans will face opposition not only from Democrats, but from his own party.
