Not every Republican is pleased to welcome Trump back to Capitol Hill

Two and a half years after he incited a deadly riot at the US Capitol and two weeks to the day since a jury in New York found him guilty on 34 counts, former president Donald Trump will be welcomed to Capitol Hill as the leader of the Republican Party.

When Trump first became the Republican presidential nominee the first time around, most Republicans on Capitol Hill feigned ignorance. Many said they would “support but would not endorse the nominee” when asked, conspicuously avoiding saying Trump’s name. When Trump won the presidency, many Republicans — like then-House speaker Paul Ryan — would tell reporters they hadn’t seen his tweets. And for a while after the January 6 riot, a brief moment existed where Republicans might have made Trump persona non grata.

Since then, many Trump-critical Republicans have either lost their races (Liz Cheney); announced their plans to retire, as is the case with Ryan and Mitch McConnell; or have died, as John McCain did in 2018.

In their place now are Republicans far more comfortable with Trump. Instead of Ryan, House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has forged a marriage of convenience with the former president, will welcome the twice-impeached, four-times-indicted Trump to the Hill on Thursday.

Ahead of the summit, Johnson joined Senate Republicans to talk about a potential agenda for the first 100 days of a second Trump term. Such an outcome is looking likely these days, given that Trump is beating Biden pretty consistently in polling.

“We would want to have a very vigorous agenda and make the most use of the time [when Trump is on the Hill],” Johnson told reporters on Wednesday.

Senator John Cornyn of Texas, who is in the running to replace Mitch McConnell, didn’t mince words about