'Undergrad level of knowledge': Reporter dismantles prevailing House GOP claim about Senate majority

Politico reporter Jonathan Martin on Sunday dispelled a claim — perpetuated by House Republicans — that President-elect Donald Trump "dragged" the Senate "into the majority," as GOP infighting takes center stage leading up to Trump’s second term.

CNN on Sunday reported a rift between Senate and House Republicans over the “sequencing” of Trump’s agenda. Meanwhile, Trump is trying to push a slate of controversial Cabinet picks through the U.S. Senate.

Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MI) on Thursday tweeted a “message to GOP senators who don’t want to confirm Trump’s nominees.”

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“Trump took a bullet to the head and then dragged you into the majority,” Burlison wrote on X. “The American people sent a mandate and the American people are watching.”

That message was boosted by Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ), who claimed Burlison’s assessment was “spot on.”

But as Martin explained Sunday, while “Trump should get credit for helping pick up" Pennsylvania for Republicans, “the bottom line is if Trump had longer coattails,” the president-elect’s nominees “would be a lock.”

Indeed, while Trump claimed an “unprecedented and powerful mandate” after his 2024 victory, “Trump’s margins — both in raw votes and in percentages — were small by historical standards, even for the past quarter century,” PolitiFact reports.

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“Anyone [with] an undergrad level of knowledge of politics grasps the polarization of Senate races,” Martin wrote.

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