Trump, Allies Signal They will Try to Call the Shots for Republican-led Senate

The Washington Post / Mariana Alfaro

13:51 JST, November 11, 2024

President-elect Donald Trump and his allies signaled Sunday that they will try to call the shots in the Republican-led Senate, pushing the candidacy of Sen. Rick Scott (Florida) for GOP leader and demanding that Republicans allow Trump to make appointments to his administration and the courts without Senate approval.

Trump, who last year promised that he will be dictator “for Day One” of his presidency and has repeatedly expressed admiration for authoritarian leaders, insisted that the next Senate Republican leader make it possible for him to fast-track his nominations over any opposition.

Writing on Truth Social on Sunday, Trump said: “Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner.”

In April 2020, frustrated with the Senate’s speed in confirming his nominees, then-President Trump threated to take the unprecedented step of unilaterally adjourning Congress to make recess appointments. Next year, Republicans are on track to have at least 53 senators, a comfortable majority to approve nominations, but Trump seemed to indicate that wasn’t sufficient for his choices for federal jobs and judicial vacancies.

Within minutes, Scott vowed to fulfill Trump’s request if he becomes Senate Republican leader, writing on X: “100% agree. I will do whatever it takes to get your nominations through as quickly as possible.”

Top Trump allies – including billionaire CEO Elon Musk – and a number of far-right influencers have quickly lined up behind Scott’s bid.

“Rick Scott for Senate Majority Leader!” Musk posted Sunday.

Another candidate for Senate leader, Sen. John Thune (South Dakota) said he’s open to Trump’s requirement, telling Fox News Digital that “all options are on the table.”

“One thing is clear: We must act quickly and decisively to get the president’s Cabinet and other nominees in place as soon as possible to start delivering on the mandate we’ve been sent to execute, and all options are on the table to make that happen, including recess appointments,” Thune said.

Scott, a former Florida governor who just won a second term in the Senate, has turned a two-way race to succeed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) into a three-man contest that stands as the first test of Trump’s grip on the Republican Party.

Scott is running against Thune and Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), who are more establishment Republicans, top McConnell allies and sometimes critics of Trump.

Scott argues that he gives Senate Republicans the best option for instituting “change” in the chamber, a promise that earned him the support of ultraconservative voices such as Tucker Carlson and Glenn Beck, as well as Trump backer Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“We have got to change the way the Senate is run to get Trump’s agenda done,” Scott told Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo on Sunday. “I’ve talked to my colleagues. I think everybody realizes we need to make a change. So the question is going to be: Who is going to make sure we get these things done?”

Senate Republicans will vote by secret ballot in a closed-door meeting Wednesday. According to Senate Republicans’ rules, senators who will serve in the 119th Congress also can vote, including newly minted senators-elect such as Bernie Moreno of Ohio, Jim Justice of West Virginia and Tim Sheehy of Montana.

Whoever becomes the GOP leader will become the Senate majority leader in January, when Republicans will control the chamber.

While Thune and Cornyn are widely seen as the front-runners, Scott has received endorsements in recent days from Senate Republicans such as Marco Rubio (Florida) and Ron Johnson (Wisconsin). Alongside Carlson and Beck, other far-right figures like Charlie Kirk and Laura Loomer have also backed Scott.

In his post Sunday, Trump also demanded that Republicans try to block Democrats from confirming judges during the upcoming lame-duck session before they lose the majority. “Additionally, no Judges should be approved during this period of time because the Democrats are looking to ram through their Judges as the Republicans fight over Leadership. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. THANK YOU!” Trump wrote.

Democrats are likely to move swiftly on President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees, as Republicans did for Trump in the final weeks of his presidency in 2020.

In 2014, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that President Barack Obama had exceeded his constitutional authority in making high-level government appointments in 2012 when he declared the Senate to be in recess and unable to act on the nominations. At the time, Obama appointed officials to the National Labor Relations Board while the Senate held pro forma sessions every three days – a move Republicans led by McConnell took to thwart Obama’s ability to exercise power.

Thune urged the president-elect not to “exert” any influence on the leadership race in an interview with CNBC last week, but Scott has said he hopes the president-elect backs him.

Cornyn and Thune are known for their close relationships with McConnell, who has led the Senate Republican Conference since 2007 – making him the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history. Thune, 63, has been in the Senate since 2005, and is the Senate minority whip – the No. 2 Republican in the Senate. Cornyn, 72, served as whip before Thune and has been in the chamber since 2002.

In the past, Thune has criticized Trump over policies and the former president’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. Thune endorsed Sen. Tim Scott (R-South Carolina) in the presidential primary, then supported Trump after Scott ended his bid.

Cornyn said a year ago that Trump’s time had passed and he couldn’t win in 2024. After the primaries and Trump’s triumph in securing the nomination, Cornyn endorsed him.

Scott, meanwhile, has long been critical of McConnell. In 2022, he became the longtime leader’s first real challenger the top position after Republicans failed to gain a single seat in that year’s midterms. Scott – then the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the arm in charge of electing Republicans to the Senate – lost to McConnell in a 37-10 vote.

But with McConnell announcing in February that he would step down as Republican leader, Scott saw a new opportunity to rally the support of Senate Republicans seeking change after almost 18 years of McConnell’s leadership.

Scott – one of the wealthiest members of the Senate – repeatedly points to his background as a “business guy” as evidence that he can bring this change to Senate Republicans.

“I’m a deal guy, that’s what I did all my life,” Scott, 71, told Bartiromo on Sunday. “I built companies by putting companies together. So you’ve got to find common ground. You’ve got to talk to everybody.”

Before turning to politics, the Florida Republican served as chief executive of Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation – once one of the nation’s largest for-profit hospital chains – but was ousted by the company’s board after the company was found to have defrauded Medicare, Medicaid and other federal programs. The Department of Justice won 14 felony convictions against the company, which was slapped with a $1.7 billion fine in what was at the time the largest Medicare fraud settlement in U.S. history.

While Scott, in a 2010 gubernatorial campaign ad, took responsibility for the company’s charges and acknowledged that he and the company “had made mistakes,” he sought to rewrite the history behind the settlement this year when he compared charges brought against Trump in his Manhattan hush-money trial to his own legal troubles. Scott, in a May interview with Fox & Friends, claimed without evidence that “Justice came after me and attacked me and my company.” Trump has long claimed, without evidence – as have many Republicans in his circle – that the justice system has been weaponized against the former president.

Scott also once pushed a plan that would have sunset Medicare and Social Security every five years – a policy position that drew wide condemnation from Democrats and forced McConnell to issue a public rebuke. Scott’s “Rescue America” plan, released in 2022, would have required all legislation to be renewed every five years to stay on the books. While Medicare or Social Security were not directly named in the plan, both programs were created by federal legislation.

Scott walked back the plan after a barrage of criticism from both parties, writing in an op-ed for the Washington Examiner that he would carve out “specific exceptions for Social Security, Medicare, national security, veterans’ benefits, and other essential services.”

The controversy has not dissuaded some of Trump’s Senate allies from backing Scott – a relative newcomer – over the more-established Cornyn and Thune in the leadership race. At least four Republican senators – Rubio, Johnson, Bill Hagerty (Tennessee) and Rand Paul (Kentucky) – have said publicly they’ll support Scott on Wednesday.

As of Sunday evening, Cornyn had secured the public support of one of his colleagues – Sen. Josh Hawley (Missouri) – while Thune had earned the support of fellow South Dakota Republican Mike Rounds.

Most Republican senators have not said publicly whom they’ll support. And others, such as the newly elected Sheehy, said they have not yet taken a serious look at the choices.

“I don’t even know many of these guys yet, to be quite honest with you,” Sheehy told Fox News on Thursday.