The Scoop
As jubilant as Republican lawmakers are over Donald Trump’s second term, they’re facing a familiar reality: The president is back to picking fights with them and trying to bend them to his will.
From pardoning Jan. 6 offenders to threatening blunt tariffs on allied nations to trying to rename an Alaska mountain against the wishes of its two Republican senators, Trump is showing no qualms about provoking members of his party. In many cases, he’s simply following through on his campaign promises — but that doesn’t mean it’s going down smoothly in Congress.
Perhaps the most conspicuous example of the trend on Trump’s second day in office was his broad pardons of people convicted of offenses related to the Capitol riot. Some of his GOP allies cheered; several of the party’s senators were openly dismayed to see pardons for even those convicted of violent crimes.
“Well, I think I agree with the vice president,” Sen. Mitch McConnell told Semafor, referring to JD Vance’s recent remarks that violent Capitol riot offenders shouldn’t be pardoned. “No one should excuse violence. And particularly violence against police officers.”
McConnell endorsed Trump’s campaign last year but has made clear he will speak out when their views differ on major issues, like national security and tariffs. It looks like he’ll have plenty of opportunities to do so, though what’s true for all Republicans is true for him as well: Rhetorical breaks with Trump are always easier than pushing back on his nominees and legislation.
Far more Republicans offered muted criticisms or said little at all, for example, about his Jan. 6 pardons and tariff threats.
“There’s not a full consensus among Republicans about much of anything. So I’m not surprised by that,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, of the GOP split over some of Trump’s actions. He noted that alongside the controversy came plenty of other moves Republicans agreed with.
Cornyn said Congress had nothing to do with the pardons, and many of his colleagues said it’s the president’s prerogative to order the release of most defendants involved in the riot — including those accused of assaulting police officers. But others made clear they were not pleased and said they wouldn’t try to defend them.
“Most of us were expecting a more selective process. So in terms of justifying it, I will let him do that,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D.
Know More
Perhaps the biggest current source of tension in the Republican Party is tariffs — and Trump said he’s planning a 25% tariff on Canadian and Mexican imports starting in just 10 days. Republicans are inordinately from agricultural and manufacturing states, meaning broad tariffs on U.S. allies could hit close to home.
“Tariffs generally result in retaliatory tariffs against US products, and it’s most likely to be agriculture,” said Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., whose farm-heavy state could take it on the chin from a trade war. “I hope there’s an agreement between the countries to avoid this escalation of tariffs.”
Another potential near-term headache: Trump’s delay of the implementation of a ban designed to force divestiture of TikTok’s ownership from Chinese company ByteDance.
Trump proposed a joint venture with the existing owner and the US, raising eyebrows in Congress among all of those Republicans who voted to force the sale of the app or effectively ban it in the US.
“I don’t fully understand how President Trump can suggest that 50% American ownership … would be in compliance with the law,” Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said on Tuesday afternoon. “That’s not what the law says.”
A few minutes later she sent out a statement blasting both Trump and Biden’s pardons, concluding “this has been a terrible week for our justice system.”
And about that mountain in Alaska: Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan both oppose renaming Denali to Mount McKinley. But Sullivan wasn’t going to let that get in the way of Trump’s moves to boost energy production in his state and reverse former president Joe Biden’s legacy there.
“My preference on that is to keep the name that the patriotic Athabaskan people gave the mountain thousands of years ago,” Sullivan said, producing a copy of Trump’s Alaska measure. “Read that executive order. Yesterday was a great day for Alaska.”
The View From the judiciary chair
Several Republican lawmakers addressed Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons by saying they were focused instead on former President Joe Biden’s preemptive pardons of his family members. It’s a hint of how Biden’s activity in his final days in office may blunt intraparty criticism of Trump.
“I assume you’re asking me about the Biden pardons of his family,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told Semafor. “I’m just talking about the Biden pardons, because that is so selfish.”
Burgess’s view
The dominant storyline during Trump’s first term was the push and pull between the president and lawmakers in his own party. This week shows us that while some of the issues have changed, and while the bulk of the loudest critics have left office, the policy tension remains the same.
Still, Republicans’ criticisms of Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons are more muted than you might expect. And there’s ample evidence they are deferring to him on TikTok even after voting to force a sale last year. There’s hope the tariffs are either bluster or aimed at specific, achievable objectives with respect to Canada and Mexico.
At the moment, Republican control of the White House and Congress is enough to smooth over the conflict between the congressional GOP and Trump. We’ll see if that holds a few months — or years — from now, when the halcyon days are in the rearview mirror.
Notable
- Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., says it’s a “bad idea” to pardon people who assaulted a police officer.
- Canada says it will retaliate against tariffs, according to the Associated Press.