CNN anchor Dana Bash on Wednesday said she couldn’t think of a single “example” of why governing might be tougher for President-elect Donald Trump in his second term.
As of Thursday morning, Trump holds a two-point lead over Vice President Kamala Harris in the popular vote, while Republicans have clinched a Senate majority and are projected to maintain control of the House, according to Decision Desk HQ. Bash, on “CNN News Central,” suggested that the “makeup” of current elected Republicans would make it easier for Trump to accomplish his agenda.
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“I was thinking about this, and I was wondering if there’s kind of a counterintuitive sort of example to say, ‘Well it could be harder,’ and I can‘t find one. Because if you think about the — never mind the numbers of Republicans in the Senate and the House eight years ago, it’s the makeup of the Senate and the House,” Bash said. “There are no more [former Republican Illinois Rep.] Adam Kinzingers in the House. I mean, there are a few, but not many.”
“In the United States Senate, I mean, name your Senate seat and we can give probably an example of somebody who didn’t like Donald Trump, didn’t support Donald Trump, tried to push back against Donald Trump within his own party who has retired, and been replaced with a complete and total Trump supporter,” she continued. “I mean, Rob Portman, for example, in Ohio. He retired. J.D. Vance is in his seat. He is obviously going to be vice president. But there is no question that whomever is picked is going to be of that ilk.”
Kinzinger in October 2021 announced that he would not be seeking reelection after having served 12 years in Congress and being one of 10 House Republicans to vote in favor of impeaching Trump following the January 6 Capitol riot. He later was appointed by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to serve on the January 6 Select Committee.
Former Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, who also served on the committee and voted to impeach Trump, lost her 2022 reelection bid to the Trump-backed Harriet Hageman by over 37 points.
“And you can go on and on and on down the line when you look at the sort of makeup of the Republican conference in the Senate and the House,” Bash said. “And that really does change the game for Donald Trump in how he can get things through, who he can get through and the kind of support he has for what he wants to do.”
Democratic governors in Massachusetts, California and Illinois and other elected officials have declared that they will push back against Trump’s hardline immigration agenda. Moreover, Biden administration officials are reportedly debating how to block Trump from significantly altering President Joe Biden’s foreign policy initiatives.
Journalist Mark Halperin said Tuesday that Trump has a better chance to bring “radical change” to the federal government than former Republican presidents based on the GOP’s control of the government, the president-elect’s four-year hiatus from office and his “greater mandate” due to winning the popular vote for the first time.
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