'If Trump says jump': GOP lawmakers find the party 'fully on bended knee'

Donald Trump has made clear that for his second term in the White House, he plans to only appoint those who have proven their loyalty to him.

From choosing conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health & Human Services, to selecting Fox News host Pete Hegseth as defense secretary — according to Politico — many GOP lawmakers fully back the president-elect’s picks.

“The four years he was there, he did what he said, he’s learned the ones that betrayed him, and he will not make the same mistake twice,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) told Politico. “Tom Homan as an example, unbelievable. Stephen Miller, unbelievable. I mean, everybody he picks will get the job done. He realizes he’s got a short window to get this done, and he’s gonna take it back.”

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The news outlet noted that while “some Republicans expressed disbelief when Trump announced his decision to make Gaetz his attorney general and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. his Health and Human Services secretary,” to other GOP members, “the strength of Trump’s victory was enough for overwhelming confidence in his Cabinet picks.”

Politico points out that Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) told reporters earlier this week,

“If Donald Trump says, ‘jump three feet high and scratch your head,’ we all jump three feet high and scratch our head.”

Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence — who compromised his MAGA loyalty by refusing to overturn the 2020 election results — proved Nehls right during a panel discussion Tuesday, the report notes.

“I am very encouraged by the early appointments by the president-elect,” he said.

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Politico reports Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) — aware that Trump is sticking to loyalists only — said, “In 2016 he learned that not everybody in the bureaucracy is going to do whatever he says just because he’s the president. Quite honestly, there were a lot of months lost in the first term. He’s not going to make that mistake twice, and I applaud him for it.”

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Politico’s full report is available here.