Republican lawmakers are crawling all over each other as they try to get Donald Trump's seal of approval to lead the U.S. Senate.
Punchbowl News reports senators are waiting to see who Trump endorses for the new majority leader post being vacated by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY). The current men in the running are Sens. John Thune (R-SD), John Cornyn (R-TX) and Rick Scott (R-FL), the latter of which has gained favor among the hardcore MAGA members of the GOP base.
"The online pro-Scott pressure campaign has gotten ugly, with an army of prominent MAGA personalities and Trump confidants launching increasingly aggressive diatribes against Thune and Cornyn, even attacking family members," reports Punchbowl. "Some have been threatening individual senators or pushing inaccurate or misleading information about who’s supporting which candidate. GOP senators and aides are incensed about it."
However, Scott could already have hurt himself by saying that Trump must have Congress's consent to enact his tariff plan. When Trump ushered in tariffs on steel and aluminum imports in 2018, he did so unilaterally under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. The law says that the president can raise tariffs on imports if he believes it's in the interest of national security. At the time the Department of Commerce agreed with the decision.
Also Read: Busted: How Florida's Rick Scott is ramping up his inflammatory anti-immigrant rhetoric
“The tariffs, that most likely is going to require 60 [votes in the Senate] unless there’s some way we can get that done through reconciliation" with 51 [votes],” Scott told Fox News on “Sunday Morning Futures.”
The 60-vote super-majority is required due to the filibuster. It's also unclear whether Trump will demand that the Senate end the practice that will likely hold up any legislation he proposes. It's a similar problem that President Joe Biden had under the narrow majority in the Senate throughout his presidency.
Punchbowl spoke to Scott on Monday about the pressure campaign from MAGA world. Some Trump allies have gone so far as to threaten individual senators while pushing lies and conspiracy theories about each candidate.
"GOP senators and aides are incensed about it," said Punchbowl.
“These people are excited Trump won, and they just want to make sure whoever’s going to be the Senate leader is going to be all on board with Trump’s agenda,” Scott said. “They’re comfortable that I’m that person.”
“My pitch is pretty simple. I’m a business guy who gets things done, and I’m completely on board with Donald Trump’s agenda. It’s as simple as that," Scott continued.
“As a conference, not me, but as a conference, we will be very clear about what we’ll accomplish. It will be identical to the Trump agenda,” he said.
