Blog 3.2

1. How did the public deal with the attempt to shut down the Office of Congressional Ethics?

2. How did sharing control of the government with Democrats actually end up helping Republicans in Congress?

3. What does the professor from University of Miami mean when saying that the Republicans were more of a "protest party"?

4. Why is Trump a potential problem for Republicans in Congress?

5. In what situations will Trump be willing to oppose Republicans in Congress?

6. How are some Republicans, like the Freedom Caucus, adjusting their stances preparing for a Trump presidency?

7.  How will the public view Republicans differently now that they are in charge of lawmaking?

Answers

1. There was a strong amount of public backlash.

2. "For the past eight years, divided government has inadvertently protected the House GOP from electoral consequences for many of their legislative actions. Even the unpopular GOP-driven shutdown of the federal government in 2013 was soon forgotten by the electorate, since a majority of the voters consistently disapproved of President Barack Obama’s job performance the following year, and voted accordingly."

3. "For the last six years, their organizing strategy has been to be a protest party, and all their actions have been interpreted not as actual governing but as protest."

4. "About two-thirds of Republicans in the House have never served under a Republican president, which means Republicans will have to figure out 'what it means to be the party that controls the House, Senate, and the presidency for the first time in a while.'"

5. If it makes him look good, he'll do it.

6. "There are early signs that the Freedom Caucus — who had styled themselves as the House’s staunchest conservatives — are reinventing themselves as fervent Trump supporters, in many cases because they’ve concluded their base voters care far more about Trump than they do about free-market orthodoxy."

7. "Republicans are the governing party now — which means they’ll face much tougher public scrutiny."