I thought Congres. GOP were supposed to be lapdogs, who’d always vote with Trump

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Well, did all those who voted Trump in the primary vote with him?
The point is that there weren't very many.

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I also remember when some folks here were doubting that #NeverTrump Republicans would manage to hold out until the election without endorsing him.  E.g.:

I wonder how many of "never Trump" crowd would eventually fall in line if he's nominated: "well yes, I had some doubts but the most important thing now is to unite and prevent Obama's third term".

Of course, between that post being written in March and the actual election in November, the #NeverTrump list of Republican politicians grew significantly more than it shrank, with ultimately nearly a quarter of Senate Republicans refusing to endorse him.

So yes, the majority of the GOP caucus is (presumably) always going to go along with him, which is how it works for every president.  But the minority of the caucus that will defect on certain issues (including the issue of whether he should have been elected in the first place ) is enough to give him headaches.

Well, did all those who voted Trump in the primary vote with him?
The point is that there weren't very many.

Weren’t very many what?  Congressional Republicans who endorsed Trump in the primary?  That is true, he got few endorsements from Congress when the nomination was contested.  Or did you mean something else?

Yes, not that many supported him in the primary, and some didn't support him in the general election, while others only supported him because of Mike Pence.

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Sorry to do this guys, but examples of what I’m talking about…

Bold Prediction - zero Republicans cross over to vote against Puzder, Puzder makes it through 52-48.

It really doesn't matter if there are crossovers now.  Today's vote shows that fifty Republicans are cowards who will happily vote in lockstep with their Fuhrer regardless of how unwise it is, and that's all that's needed.

Bold Prediction - zero Republicans cross over to vote against Puzder, Puzder makes it through 52-48.

Better question, will any Republican vote against any of the remaining nominees?

Better question yet, will any of the 50 cowards ever oppose Trump in any meaningful way? (i.e. not just talk it abstractly, a la "maaaaaaaaybe I'll have to vote against Tillerson ")

Of course, this was a failure in the House rather than the Senate, but the same thing would’ve happened if the Senate had gone first.  The fact that they were willing to approve his entire Cabinet except Puzder didn’t actually mean that they’d always go along with him on policy.

The argument some folks seemed to be buying into was that Trump had some sort of unique mind meld with the GOP base, and that would insulate him from defections.  The fact that he spoke with a 4th grade level vocabulary and insulted people made him some kind of working class hero, which made his support from the base more "authentic"....or something.

It's much more common to vote against your party on legislation than on a cabinet appointment.