… of the establishment Republican leadership in Congress:
During August recess, Speaker Johnson and Leader Thune plan to call the House and Senate into session every four or five days, with practically no one there, for the sole purpose of preventing Trump from making recess appointments. Here was today’s House “pro-forma” session: pic.twitter.com/sK1tZTCdYQ
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) July 25, 2025
Why would Thune and Johnson try to thwart Trump’s appointments?? This makes no sense to me.
Hi, Jan–
I think the GOP establishment does not trust Trump to advance appointments that would be acceptable to them.
They don’t want folks who they feel are too conservative, or who might create certain risks for them. Those risks might be political, or they might entail pursuing policies and objectives they might not like.
A great example is when they shot down the nomination of Matt Gaetz to be Attorney General.
It is a mystery for which I have no answer.
I suspect if this is really happening, Fred, it will become more clear with the passage of time.