GOP senator says it's 'unfortunate' the extent to which some Republicans defer to Trump

• Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, is chafing at Trump's power over his colleagues.
• Cramer said senators need to make sure their opinions are their own.

Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota is frustrated that so many of his GOP colleagues appear to defer their views on major issues to former President Donald Trump.

"I just think it's unfortunate that we can't, as individual United States senators, take the time and the effort and intellectual honesty to study something on your own and make a decision," Cramer told Politico. "Donald Trump has an opinion too. That's great, but ours should be our opinion."

According to Politico, Cramer is part of a growing number of GOP lawmakers in the Capitol who are irked about Trump's influence on Capitol Hill. The former president's status will loom large in the days ahead as lawmakers are expected to release the text of a bipartisan immigration-Ukraine aid bill, which Trump has tried to kill. Lawmakers are also waiting to see if the former president will take a public stance on a major bipartisan tax bill that trades an expansion of the child tax credit for the restoration of some corporate tax breaks.

"When former President Trump says something, everybody listens," Rep. Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican, told the publication. "Everybody."

Trump's influence on the Hill is a testament to how he has continued to remake and shape the GOP into a more loyal outfit. The former president's early days in office were marked by many difficulties in his relationship with some congressional Republicans, notably the late Sen. John McCain.

While Trump is not officially the GOP's presumptive nominee, an increasing number of national officials have called for the party's presidential primary to effectively end — a move that has only increased the former president's power.