President Donald Trump’s Republican allies in the House say he is better positioned than ever to enact his legislative agenda, entering the White House armed with nearly a decade’s worth of knowledge about Washington.
“The first time, he was a great businessman, but he didn’t know Washington. He’s got it down now,” said Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., a close ally of Trump’s who switched parties to better align with him during his first term. “He’s totally prepared for this. Last time he was learning. He’s learned. He’s ready to go.”
Multiple House GOP lawmakers who served in Congress during Trump’s first term described a man who is returning to D.C. both with a triumphant electoral victory and a sharp understanding of how Capitol Hill and the wider D.C. network works.
Several said the changes are manifesting in his and his team’s near-constant communication with Republican lawmakers and in the people he’s hiring for his team.
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“He knows now that Washington is generally going to push back, and they’re going to do what they want to do — whether you call it the deep state or the establishment or the uniparty. I think he’s very aware, and I think he’s comporting his actions to address those issues,” said Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa. “He understands that personnel is policy, so he’s trying to get the right people in place, not because they’re loyal to him, but because they’re loyal to the agenda that the people want.”
Within hours of being sworn in Monday, Trump held public events where he signed dozens of executive orders to enact promises he made on the campaign trail.
All the while, he’s stayed in close contact with Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., as well as summoning a flurry of House Republicans to Mar-a-Lago earlier this month to discuss the GOP agenda.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., a former founding member of the House Freedom Caucus who served in the House from 2010 to 2017 and who is back for another term, noticed a marked difference from former Speaker Paul Ryan’s era.
“It didn’t seem he and Speaker Ryan were on the same page coming into Congress. I saw them have discussions about the election and rallies, and they just had different perspectives, which I think is unfortunate because it was a real missed opportunity for a lot of things to be done,” Stutzman said.
“This time, he knows Washington, he has a great team he’s pulling together and I think his team will be that much more disciplined and focused on the four-year window to get as much done as possible.”
Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala., a former member of House GOP leadership, also remarked on Trump’s focus on Congress.
“His first term was clearly a populist campaign. He had really smart people, but they didn’t have any congressional experience,” Palmer said. “That’s not happening now. They’ve worked very closely with us. I feel like we’re all on the same page about what needs to be done.”
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Freshman Rep. Jeff Crank, R-Colo., who had been a talk radio host before his political career, noted that the media environment Trump walked into had been a more receptive one compared to 2016.
“He sort of broke the media complex. He seemed like – the media folks who in 2016 were resisting him, now they’ve realized, ‘Well, maybe this was censorship that we were doing, and that’s maybe not the best thing for our business model,’” Crank said. “But, whatever it is, they’ve sort of joined up with him, right, in a lot of ways.”
A significant part of Trump’s D.C. education came during the four years he was out of office, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., a longtime ally, said. But he and others agreed that, at his core, Trump has not changed.
“There’s no question that he is better than had he raced into a second term. He is the same man, though. He knows what he believes,” Issa said.
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