'Vessels for Trump': Reporters warn 'Thune and Johnson are hostages as much as party leaders'

Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) “are vessels” for President-elect Donald Trump, “his policies and his wants,” Punchbowl News reporters Jake Sherman, Andrew Desiderio and John Bresnahan report.

As the reporters note, while Thune enjoys “a hefty base of support” in the Senate, he still finds himself “caught between what Trump wants and what [Congress] can deliver a notoriously impatient president.”

Johnson, meanwhile, has to contend with base support of “hardline conservatives — and Trump.” The president on Wednesday backed Johnson to lead the House again during a closed-door meeting with Republican lawmakers. As Punchbowl News reports, “Johnson can’t win a speaker vote without Trump’s support."

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“Thune and Johnson are hostages as much as party leaders,” the reporters note. “The best hope for Johnson and Thune is that they can stay together.”

And Trump appears to be testing his power over the party leaders, nominating a slate of controversial Cabinet picks that show he “isn’t worried about what the 'Republican Establishment' thinks of him," Punchbowl News reports.

“Trump is the Establishment now,” the reporters write.

Indeed, Trump on Sunday demanded the future Senate Republican leader “agree to recess appointments” ahead of Wednesday’s leadership vote.

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Thune, in response to Trump’s demands said "all options are on the table ... including recess appointments,” Axios reported Sunday.

But conservative Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen doesn’t see Thune “eviscerating the ‘advice and consent’ power of the Senate” as his “first act as majority leader.”

As Punchbowl News notes, Thune is currently “saying the Senate will process Trump’s nominees through the regular procedure.” Still, if Senate Republicans manage to “derail some of Trump’s picks … Thune will get the blame."

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