WASHINGTON — For House Republicans, the political year started with a pep rally of sorts as President Donald Trump gathered them at Washington’s Kennedy Center for a stem-winder of a speech. But by the time lawmakers had completed their first week of work this midterm election year, fractures in the party were already showing.

From pushback to Trump’s self-described “Donroe doctrine” of aggression in the Western Hemisphere to breaks in party unity over health care, Republican lawmakers are displaying signs of independence from Trump after spending much of the last year acquiescing to his practically every demand. It showed a new dynamic in the GOP as Republicans embark on a difficult campaign to keep control of both the House and Senate.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, speaking at the U.S.-Mexico border Friday with a group of Republican Senate candidates, said Republicans were “going to be focused like a laser” on issues of affordability and pointed to legislation in the works on housing and health care.

Thune’s border trip and talk of affordability were a nod back to some of the core themes of Trump’s presidential campaign. But the focus in Washington of late has instead been dominated by Trump’s military operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, his threats to use military force to take control of Greenland, the release of case files on Jeffrey Epstein and a debate over extending subsidies for insurance offered under the Affordable Care Act — an issue where Republicans have long struggled to find unity.

Recent shootings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in several U.S. cities, including one that killed a woman in Minneapolis, have also raised new questions about Republicans’ hard-line immigration agenda and shifted attention away from Trump’s handling of the border, which they see as a political success.

Even so, Trump still has plenty of command over most of the party. That was demonstrated this week by a pair of unsuccessful House veto override votes in which most GOP members stuck with the president.

Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who has been one of the few Republicans to consistently defy Trump, said that “there was some bully pulpit intimidation going on” from the president that caused the veto overrides to fail.

Still, Democrats are making the case that Trump is becoming distracted from the needs of Americans, especially after the attack on Venezuela.

“He’s lurching towards another endless, expensive war, all the while American families here are struggling with skyrocketing costs,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.

To prove their point, Democrats are forcing votes on war powers resolutions that would stop Trump from attacking Venezuela without congressional approval. Such measures are rarely successful, but a procedural vote on the legislation drew support from five Republicans Thursday, setting up a final vote next week. House Democrats are also pushing forward a similar resolution.

The GOP senators who voted for the legislation tried to defuse the conflict with Trump by arguing their positions were in line with his own campaign promises to scale back U.S. commitments overseas.

Trump’s desire to possess Greenland and his administration’s decision not to rule out military force also met significant resistance from GOP lawmakers this week.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who is retiring after crossing Trump last summer, took to the Senate floor to proclaim that he was “sick of stupid.” He specifically criticized White House deputy chief of policy Stephen Miller, who made comments that Greenland should be part of the U.S.

Other Republicans, including Thune and Senate Armed Services Committee chair Sen. Roger Wicker, also gently pushed back on military threats against Denmark, which is a NATO ally of the U.S.

During Trump’s speech at the Kennedy Center on Tuesday, he urged Republicans to own the issue of health care. Yet when the House voted Thursday on a Democratic proposal to extend expired health care subsidies for Affordable Care Act health plans, 17 Republicans broke with party leadership to help pass the bill.

“In this first, full week of the new year, House Democrats — every single one of us joined by 17 Republicans — have partnered in a bipartisan way to protect the health care of the American people,” said House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries following the vote.