Will Republicans Make Donald Trump a Lame Duck?
Congressional Republicans are beginning to challenge the president openly.

President Donald Trump is digging in on several controversial priorities despite knowing he's "paying a price among Senate Republicans" — who, multiple insiders told The Washington Post, are growing increasingly "tired of carrying that weight.”“It’s been one self-inflicted wound after another,” a Republican strategist told the Post, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “Senate Republicans are tired of carrying that weight and making excuses for things they can’t make excuses for.”Trump faced a new GOP “rebellion” early Friday after Senate Republicans refused to advance a bill backed by the president, one that would extend a controversial surveillance program. They also took 18 hours to advance the Trump-backed reconciliation bill to fund federal immigration enforcement agencies in what Punchbowl News described as the “consequences of Trump’s recent moves,” including his “anti-weaponization” fund and ousting of Republicans he deemed disloyal.However, according to an adviser close to the president, Trump is keenly aware that his actions are sparking a schism within his own party, but is pressing on unfazed — and “with a blend of indifference and hostility,” the Post reported — for one reason.“Trump is not of a mind to change course on Iran, the fund or his Cabinet picks to make Republicans’ lives easier on the campaign trail or to smooth relations with Capitol Hill,” the Post reports, citing the advisor who spoke with the outlet under the condition of anonymity. “The president recognizes he’s paying a price among Senate Republicans for endorsing victorious primary challengers to Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX), but he also believes the senators who are voting against him probably would have done so anyway. Trump does not think he needs Congress as much as the lawmakers think he does, the adviser said.”Bolstering Trump's position is the upcoming midterm elections, where analysts have offered grave predictions for Republican performance, and thereby giving him little incentive to "accommodate" GOP lawmakers' "concerns" by backing off his more controversial positions.“And with House and Senate Republicans expected to suffer significant losses in November, the president feels no need to accommodate them,” the Post’s report reads, paraphrasing the adviser’s remarks.
Congressional Republicans are beginning to challenge the president openly.
Thursday, June 4th on RealClearPolitics - Joined by RCP Contributor Richard Porter and Miranda Devine, host of Pod Force One
President Donald Trump has faced barely any pushback from those within his Cabinet, having prioritized loyalty so intense that members have risked physical injury just to appease him, according to a report Friday. Slate writer Ian Prasad Philbrick came to his conclusion after conducting an experiment: he purchased a pair of Florsheim Shoes, the same kind Trump had purchased for his entire Cabinet who are “afraid not to wear them,” a White House aide previously told The Wall Street Journal. As part of his experiment, Philbrick walked 10 miles around Washington, D.C. in his new pair of Florsheim dress shoes – footwear that costs $145 and is “decidedly midtier” — and was left with significant “damage” to his feet.“The balls of both feet and the ends of both pointer toes had been mashed into misshapen blisters,” Philbrick wrote. “The skin on both heels and a patch below my right pinkie had worn away, leaving behind angry pink abrasions. My feet were still aching when I boarded my flight home the next day.”Trump has also reportedly purchased the shoes for his top officials without asking their shoe size, leading to Secretary of State Marco Rubio being spotted with what appears to be footwear that's far too large — shoes in which Rubio’s feet “were positively swimming,” Philbrick quipped. Rubio was even mocked this week for having continued to wear the “too big” shoes by Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA), to which Rubio defensively insisted they “fit fine.”That Trump’s cabinet was willing to “risk mangling their own feet” just to appease their boss, Philbrick concluded, was an apt metaphor for the Trump 2.0 administration as a whole.“An ill-fitting pair of shoes turns out to be a fitting talisman of the political world we’ve collectively inhabited since 2016,” Philbrick wrote.“In this world, a president who should be focused on passing legislation or negotiating with Iran is acting as his adjutants’ personal stylist – the most loyal of whom are so submissive that they’re willing to risk mangling their own feet just to follow in his footsteps. Our emperor may have no clothes. But he does have Florsheims.”
Fraudsters in Ohio, and nationwide, ought to be sweating right now. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche revealed sweeping indictments in a massive fraud scheme on Thursday. The […]
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) sparked another wave of liberal outrage after becoming the first Senate Democrat to clear the path for one of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees during the president’s second term, Punchbowl News reported Friday.Fetterman has become something of a pariah among Democrats after routinely siding with Republicans on various issues, including matters related to immigration enforcement, Trump’s war powers and Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. And on Friday, Punchbowl News confirmed that he had waived his right to block Trump’s lifetime nomination of a federal judge in Pennsylvania, sparking fury among a major liberal and anti-Trump advocacy organization.“These are not normal times, and any senator who thinks that this is standard operating procedure and that any of these nominations are normal course of operations is deluding themselves,” said Josh Orton, president of the organization Demand Justice, speaking with Punchbowl News.“If Democrats truly believe that we have to stand up to Trump’s attacks on the rule of law, they have to do so in every room — not just on Twitter and not just on TV.”Fetterman cleared the path for the Trump-tapped Antonio Pozos to serve as a lifetime federal judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, doing so by turning in his blue slip, a process that waives his right to oppose Pozos’ appointment.“It’s the first time in Trump’s second term that a Senate Democrat has turned in a blue slip for one of Trump’s judicial picks,” Punchbowl News’ report read. “The move is already setting off yet another battle between Fetterman and his numerous critics on the left, who demand unyielding opposition to Trump, particularly on lifetime appointments to the federal bench.”
Sen. John Fetterman, the Pennsylvania Democrat known for causing the party numerous headaches, caved to President Donald Trump, per Punchbowl News, giving him a pass that no other Senate Democrat has during his second term.On Friday morning, Punchbowl reported that Fetterman — sometimes hailed as "Trump's favorite Democrat" for his often right-leaning stances and votes — would be allowing one of the president's federal judicial nominees in Pennsylvania, "waiving" his right to refuse a "blue slip." As the report noted, this is "the first time in Trump’s second term that a Senate Democrat has turned in a blue slip for one of Trump’s judicial picks."A congressional tradition dating back over a century, senators from each state hold the right to refuse to give their support to a president's judicial nominee in their home state, with the act of giving their support referred to as giving them their "blue slip." Refusing to give the slip, typically, results in the nominee getting blocked outright, or at least delayed significantly.Both of a state's senators must give a judicial nominee their blue slip in order for their nomination to progress. As Pennsylvania's other senator, David McCormick, is a Republican, only Fetterman was likely to offer any pushback at all in the process. Critics of Trump have pushed Democrats to be unyielding in the blue slip refusal under Trump's second term, given that these judges will go on to serve lifetime appointments.Trump previously railed against the blue slip process, but Senate Republicans offered a rare rebuke and defended it."The move is already setting off yet another battle between Fetterman and his numerous critics on the left, who demand unyielding opposition to Trump, particularly on lifetime appointments to the federal bench," Punchbowl reported. It continued: "This is also a new test for Senate Democrats. Trump only recently nominated a pair of judges for federal district courts in states with one or two Democratic senators. Trump tapped Antonio Pozos for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Michael Martin for the Eastern District of Michigan. Fetterman turned in his blue slip for Pozos to allow the nomination process to move forward, according to a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Democrat. Michigan’s two Democratic senators haven’t turned in their blue slips for Martin."Demand Justice, a "key liberal group," is now prepping a major ad campaign to attack Fetterman for his approval of Pozos' nomination, and threatening similar attacks against any Democrat who does the same going forward.“These are not normal times, and any senator who thinks that this is standard operating procedure and that any of these nominations are normal course of operations is deluding themselves,” Demand Justice President Josh Orton told Punchbowl.
Even a month ago, monetary policy sailing looked smooth for incoming Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh. One possible flare-up for Warsh, who became Fed chairman on May 22, succeeding Jerome Powell after an eight-year tenure, was the threat of the Iran conflict temporarily pushing oil prices higher. Yet in Warsh’s early days heading the nation’s […]
President Donald Trump faced a new GOP Senate “rebellion” early Friday, and one that included “more than just the usual suspects” in what Punchbowl News described as a “potential preview of what’s to come as Republicans seek distance from Trump with November approaching.”Senate Republicans failed to advance a bill to extend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a law that permits national intelligence agencies to monitor overseas communications without a warrant, including those of Americans. A priority for Trump, the bill failed to advance due to insufficient GOP support, which itself was “prompted by” Trump’s nomination of Bill Pulte — who has no intelligence or national security experience — to serve as director of National Intelligence, Punchbowl News reported.“I don’t think he thinks about the impact on this and the timing,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) of Trump, Punchbowl News reported. “I don’t think he’s connecting that. Which is unfortunate, because [FISA] really has had an impact.”The vote to advance the bill to extend FISA ultimately failed with a vote of 47-52, and that followed an 18-hour marathon session in the Senate to advance the GOP reconciliation bill to fund federal immigration agencies, one that Punchbowl News described as an “arduous process” that, again, faced GOP opposition prompted by Trump’s actions.“The marathon voting session on the reconciliation bill laid bare the consequences of Trump’s recent moves, from the toppling of two GOP incumbents to the political toxicity of the White House’s handling of an ‘anti-weaponization’ fund for his political allies,” Punchbowl News’ report read.“What was supposed to be a straightforward reconciliation bill to fund immigration enforcement became a major headache for Senate GOP leaders because of this controversial fund. Republicans and Democrats alike tried to add language to the measure to ban the fund.”Even Senate Majority Leader John Thune shared a blunt assessment as to who carried the blame for the Senate GOP’s challenging night.“This would have been done several hours ago if we weren’t having to deal with some of the issues around the fund, which doesn’t exist — which is the point we’re making,” a “frustrated” Thune said, Punchbowl News reported.