Trump friction with GOP senators may imperil his agenda, say senators

Senate

Trump friction with GOP senators may imperil his agenda, say senators

Comments:

by Alexander Bolton - 05/26/26 6:00 AM ET

Comments:

Link copied

by Alexander Bolton - 05/26/26 6:00 AM ET

Comments:

Link copied

NOW PLAYING

Senate Republican sources say that President Trump’s agenda for the rest of the year is in serious trouble, including a budget reconciliation package to fund immigration enforcement operations through 2029, after tempers erupted at a meeting between GOP senators and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche last week.

GOP senators say that Trump has no chance of getting taxpayer money to fund construction of the White House ballroom and are warning that he will probably have to abandon or significantly reform his proposal to establish a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund if the stalled budget reconciliation package has any chance of passing before the midterm election.

Senate sources say there’s a group of four GOP senators whom Trump has alienated — Sens. Thom Tillis (N.C.), Bill Cassidy (La.), John Cornyn (Texas), and Rand Paul (Ky.) — who could make it tougher to get things passed through the Senate the rest of this year.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said it became clear after last week’s fiery meeting with Blanche that the administration could have a tough time moving its agenda through Congress for the rest of this year because of Trump’s strained relationships with Tillis, Cassidy, Cornyn and Paul.

“We have a 53-47 majority, if you lose four senators, you’re below 50 and you can’t get anything done,” he said on his podcast, “Verdict with Ted Cruz.”

“That is going to be a complicating factor for the rest of the year,” he warned.

“Those four senators, I don’t envision suddenly anything becoming hunky dory and they’re being happy. Like, that dynamic for 2026, the rest of the year, we’re going to have interesting challenges,” he predicted.

Senate Republicans have a 53-seat majority and moderate Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) have a track record of breaking with GOP leaders on big votes.

“The administration is creating issues everywhere by pissing off these senators, it’s really a bad strategy,” said a senior GOP aide.

Senate Republicans feel like they’ve been under attack from Trump and the White House and are fed up with what they view as a lack of communication from the executive branch and, all to often, a lack of respect, say GOP Senate sources familiar with the dynamics within the GOP conference.

Even some of Trump’s closest allies, including Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), pushed back on the administration over the Memorial Day weekend about a potential peace deal with Iran that Trump said had been “largely negotiated” but left unclear key details about how it would address Iran’s nuclear program or missile stockpile.

“If a deal is struck to end the Iranian conflict because it is believed that the Strait of Hormuz cannot be protected from Iranian terrorism and Iran still possesses the capability to destroy major Gulf oil infrastructure, then Iran will be perceived as being a dominate force requiring a diplomatic solution,” Graham wrote on X, the social media platform.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) warned on Saturday: “The rumored 60-day ceasefire — with the belief that Iran will ever engage in good faith — would be a disaster.”

One Republican senator who requested anonymity to comment on colleagues’ frustrations with the White House said that fellow GOP senators are sick and tired of being put in tough political positions by Trump in an election year when the president’s party is expected to face serious political headwinds.

Republican senators saw the administration’s proposal unveiled in recent days to establish a $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who were prosecuted by the Biden-era Justice Department as the latest and most egregious example of a politically unpopular White House idea that they would be forced to defend.

“People are tired, I think they feel they’re under siege and the White House is very, very difficult to work with and not good to work with, I mean below [the level of the president,]” the GOP senator said, summing up the reasons why GOP colleagues exploded at Blanche last week. “They treat people badly. You can do that for a short period of time but over time it’s corrosive.”

Roughly half the Republican senators who met with Blanche vented frustrations with the administration over the legal compensation fund and other issues, including Trump’s slipping approval ratings, which could drag down GOP candidates in November, according to a person familiar with the discussion.

Republican senators and aides warn that the budget reconciliation package with nearly $70 billion in funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol may be dead unless the administration abandons the $1.8 billion weaponization fund or dramatically overhauls the proposal.

On