Republicans insist they could eventually restrain Trump and Musk
Over the past 24 hours, a handful of once-reluctant Republicans approved of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard's bids to join Trump's Cabinet. On top of the mild GOP complaints about the dismantling of the US Agency of International Development and freeze on government spending, free-trading Republicans who warned against a potential trade war with Canada and Mexico are giving Trump plenty of latitude in that area.
With little threat of the GOP Congress stepping in to restrain it, Trump — and Elon Musk, empowered with significant authority to reshape the federal government — have staged a dizzying show of executive-branch dominance over the federal legislature.
Trump's ability to wield power to start his second term has prompted increasingly loud charges from Democrats that Republicans are too afraid to stand up to him. It's a line that Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., is likely to hear for two more years as he prepares for a reelection bid on the front lines of 2026's battle for the Senate.
Tillis is throwing the charge right back at Democrats, accusing them of being pliant for former President Joe Biden.
'In the last Democratic administration, which [nominees] did they even raise a concern [about]? Zero. Like, zero. So it's disingenuous. It's the same old, tired playbook,' Tillis told Semafor when asked about the idea that he's rolling over for Trump.
He contended that there will eventually be red lines that the Republican Congress won't permit Trump to cross, 'whether it's on nominees, or whether it's on policy. I can see things where Musk — he's coming up with good ideas — he could go too far. We could say, 'Great idea. It doesn't work in a public institution.''
It hasn't come to that yet. And Republicans are plainly sensitive to the idea that they are letting legislative power atrophy after charging Democrats with the same misdeed during the presidencies of Biden and Barack Obama.
Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., even spoke to Trump directly about Gabbard's nomination as director of national intelligence, but told reporters Trump wasn't trying to twist his arm. Young said Trump told him Gabbard's vote was 'important, but he said, 'You know what, Todd, we're going to work together on all kinds of other things to Make America Great Again.''
Republicans' attitudes may change if voters sour on Trump, but thus far the president has had wide latitude to remodel government. He's sparked frustration from moderate Republicans like Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins but little protest from party leaders.
Still, Tillis isn't the only senior Republican to insist that they will not let Musk or the executive branch further infringe on Congress's vaunted power of the purse.
'We do have to really make sure that the spending and the appropriation and the power of the purse remains with the House and Senate,' said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. 'Any encroachment on that, I think we should, as a body, stand up and resist.'
Republicans already concede they will likely need to push through legislation to finalize changes to USAID. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., told Semafor that Republicans are quietly critical of undercutting foreign aid development programs but 'are afraid to say it. They're afraid of retribution.'
'I'm surprised that so many people here who have supported foreign assistance programs now suddenly are willing to let them be cut off, to the detriment of security,' said Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee. 'These are not like turning off a light switch that you can shut it down and start it again.'
Gaetz's implosion last year led Democrats — and even some Republicans — to believe that Trump's crop of unconventional nominees could be forced into withdrawal or defeated. Yet the pugilistic president, his extremely online base and GOP leaders teamed up to advance every other nominee in that group.
One of them, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, is already confirmed; Gabbard and Kennedy are on the goal line to get there. Gaetz remains the only scuttled Trump Cabinet pick.
Young plainly struggled with his vote on Gabbard. He required written assurances from her on the possibility of pardoning Edward Snowden and her views on US surveillance power before moving ahead. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a doctor, was open about his reservations about Kennedy's vaccine skepticism; he voted for Kennedy just as Trump mused online about vaccines' effect on autism.
Tillis said he and Cassidy are both 'independent' and 'prepared to offer up our concerns' about nominees. He warned that Kennedy would 'regret it' if he took major steps against vaccines.
Both Cassidy and Young credited Vice President JD Vance with helping them get answers from nominees. And both have crossed Trump in the past — Young declined to endorse him last year, and Cassidy voted to convict him in the 2021 impeachment trial.
Still, one ally of Trump and Kennedy said Cassidy was always seen within the administration as a yes in the end.
It remains to be seen whether Trump will support Cassidy in 2026, or at least stay neutral.
The Senate minority leader told Semafor in a recent interview that he thinks Republicans will eventually be more comfortable working with Democrats on things that Trump may not totally love.
'It's going to take a little while. Because right now they're all afraid of Trump. Trump is going to have less power and less clout six months from now because of screwups like the OMB one,' Schumer said, referring to a blunt budget freeze that the administration revoked last week.
Trump's power on Capitol Hill is stronger than it was in 2017, and he's using every bit of that extra clout. Many of his Republican skeptics are no longer in Congress, and longtime GOP lawmakers see little upside to battling with him at this early date.
The biggest early question mark is Musk: If he starts targeting popular government programs, he'll likely face pushback from the GOP. But his initial forays have provoked little response from Republicans so far.
Tillis started out as a 'no' on Hegseth and only flipped to yes after an intense lobbying campaign by Trump allies, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Read Gabbard's to Young recounting her promises to him, obtained by Semafor.
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