He has criticized his own party members as harshly as Democrats. He has met with liberals who believe human activity leads to climate change while nominating an Environmental Protection Agency head who environmentalists say will be a disaster. He suggested there are parts of Obamacare worth keeping while putting forth a Health and Human Services nominee considered a champion of House efforts to not only dismantle it, but overhaul other cornerstone government programs, such as Medicare.

“Ideologically, a blank slate probably more than any (president) since (Dwight) Eisenhower,” said Blunt, who as chair of the Senate Rules Committee will play the role of emcee at Trump’s swearing-in.

Does this unsettle Congress?

“Actually, I think that (Trump) brings a really interesting synergy to the whole process — that he does and, I think, will continue to look at things differently, which requires everybody else, or encourages everybody else, to think about what are all the options available here, as opposed to how we have always done this before,” said Blunt, who holds a key Appropriations subcommittee seat in Republican efforts to repeal and replace Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act.