Republican Congressional Pushback against Trump

Even before Donald Trump took office, the pushback against his autocratic and authoritarian tendencies had begun, even amongst Trumpist Republicans. The United States Senate rejected his proposals for recess appointments, which would have undermined the Senate’s Advise and Consent role on presidential nominations, and ending the filibuster, which would have diminished the rights of the minority and the Senate’s role as the world’s greatest deliberative body. Trump’s nominations, which are based more on loyalty to Trump than on qualifications, of nominees who are of unfit character, inexperienced, dishonest, credulous of conspiracy theories or even disloyal. His first nominee for Attorney General was forced to withdraw, but other dangerous nominations will be voted on soon. There has been some concern among Senators and anti-Trump Republicans and conservatives outside of Congress over other several other nominations, and there already were some Republican votes against one nominee. Trump nominated former Democratic U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii for Director of National Intelligence who is an apologist for terrorist-sponsoring tyrant Bashar Assad of Syria and the tyrannical ex-Soviet intelligence officer Vladimir Putin of Russia, who is trying to restore the Soviet Union, for whom she spreads propaganda. She is also sympathetic to a former federal employee who leaked massive amounts of counterterrorism documents and fled to Russia. Trump’s inexperienced nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert Kennedy, is another liberal Democrat who believes in scientifically disproven conspiracy theories against vaccines and proven public health policies. His nominee for the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Kash Patel, is an extreme loyalist to Trump who is dishonest and credulous of debunked conspiracy theories, and who was sympathetic to the January 6, 2021 Insurrection inspired by Trump that attempted to thwart the certification of Trump’s presidential 2020 election loss. Conservatives should contact their Senators to urge them to oppose particularly these nominations, among others of concern. In the Congress in general, there are several Republican members in both the Senate and House who are not pro-Trump who will be influential in the two closely divided chambers. There is a division also among Republicans in Congress over the budget and the debt ceiling, with Trump’s policy of not raising the debt ceiling being rejected by the GOP-led House even before he took office. There is significant bicameral Republican support for continued military aid to Ukraine to defend it against Russian aggression. This Reaganite wing of the GOP opposes the Trumpist isolationist wing. A Republican Representative has introduced legislation to exempt Cubans, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans fleeing Communist, Socialist and Marxist dictatorships, respectively, from Trump’s mass deportation policies. Trump’s protectionism will also likely generate some opposition from among congressional Republicans. Therefore, despite the broad support for Trump in the Republican Party, there are many areas of division, even among Trump supporters, between conservatives and Trumpist populists who support protectionism, nativism, isolationism, and authoritarianism, in addition to opposition to nominees and policies from those who are not Trumpist. In addition to public pressure, litigation, State action, and elections, there will continue to be plenty of opportunities for anti-Trump conservatives and Republicans to oppose the most Trumpist policies and even to be successful in some cases against this clear and present danger.