U.S. lawmakers on Trump

"Together, we will make America great again," said America's new president before thanking the hundreds of thousands of people who had gathered to see him take the oath of office.

Now the slogan that helped Donald Trump become the 45th president of the United States, the one written in white letters on countless red baseball caps in the crowd on the Washington Mall, will help shape America's politics and policies.

This week, The House is in Washington to witness the first few hours of the Trump presidency.

The new administration didn't waste any time, issuing a series a series of positions on a wide range of topics, including committing to a plan to create 25 million new American jobs in the next decade, reviving America's coal industry, and renegotiating NAFTA.

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Through the fanfare, the speeches, the cheers and the protests, it's easy to forget that not so long ago, the idea of president Donald Trump seemed far fetched.

So how did Trump manage to secure the keys to the White House?

"He tapped into their frustration that had been aggregating to the boiling-over point. And he continues to do that," Republican Kevin Cramer told The House in his office on Capitol Hill.

The Congressman from North Dakota knows the new president well, and was at one point rumoured to be Trump's pick for energy secretary.

"He tapped into that frustration through his unconventional means of communicating, through his complete disrespect for traditional protocols, and he called it like he saw it and people found that very refreshing in real America."

That "unconventional" and unprecedented approach has earned Donald Trump its fair share of criticism. Even as he starts working in the Oval Office, congressman Cramer doesn't anticipate Trump to leave behind the approach that got him there, including when it comes to using Twitter.

He's so clearly an equal opportunity offender that nobody should be offended by him.- Republican Congressman Kevin Cramer

"I've predicted so many times that he would moderate his language, his communications style just to find out that he didn't. So I don't know why I would predict he will," he said.

"When I first endorsed him, people challenged me on this issue: well, what about his language, what about his lack of respect for the traditions and protocols and all that? And I said: I expect I'm going to wince a few times between now and election day, maybe several times... That said, I think that's the very characteristic that appeals to so many people. Because, again, he doesn't sit around concerned about political correctness, he's not concerned about offending. In fact, I'm always amused... because he's so clearly an equal opportunity offender that nobody should be offended by him. What he's done is just thrown out all the normal rules of communication and tells it like it is. And now people find that refreshing and not offensive."

Dem. Congressman Brian Higgins: Democrats need a new narrative

The forecast is not great for Democrats in Washington.

Not only have they had to bid farewell to a popular president, but they also find themselves in the minority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

So where does the party go from here?

"Both parties need to examine what happened in this election and develop a narrative of policy objectives, goals, to appeal to the American electorate because this is by no means a Republican victory. I think this is unearned income at best," Democratic congressman Brian Higgins told The House.

The fundamental problem, he argued, is that some Americans feel left behind. And they care more about that than party affiliation.

"Trump was aggressive, as aggressive with Republicans as he was with Democrats. So this was a disruption. This is an aberration," he said.

"Keep in mind, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump had the same rhetorical strategy, and that was that the system is rigged, that you're getting screwed."

Higgins told The House that Democrats need to find a narrative and policies that will connect with voters, and defend their core principles while opposing the new president and Congressional Republicans' agendas.

Rep. Senator John Hoeven: expect KXL protests and drones over the border

Other than a potential renegotiation of NAFTA, one the biggest files to overlap the Canada-U.S. border  during the early days of the Trump administration could be the approval of the Keystone XL project.

The new president has promised to give the pipeline the green light, if he got "a better deal."

But approval wouldn't mean the project wouldn't face any obstacles.

"I think you'll see some of the same protest activity in Nebraska as has occurred in North Dakota with Dakota Access pipeline project," Republican senator John Hoeven from North Dakota told The House.

Despite that, Hoeven expects the project to move forward.

"President Trump has already indicated that he intends to approve it, and so I'll expect he'll approve the border crossing permit," he said.

"We're really committed to North American energy independence, or energy security, and that requires infrastructure like Keystone to move the energy as safely and as cost-effectively as possible."

The other place Canadians could see changes quickly is over the border... up in the sky.

"We will collaboratively use technology with our good friends in Canada to secure the border," Hoeven said.

"So things like unmanned aviation systems, radars... really a real technology focus," he explained, also emphasizing  that he doesn't think efforts to beef up border security would end up affecting the flow of people and goods from Canada to the United States."