{"id":214,"date":"2026-06-05T09:10:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T09:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=214"},"modified":"2026-06-05T09:10:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T09:10:01","slug":"senate-republicans-are-past-the-boiling-point-with-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=214","title":{"rendered":"Senate Republicans Are ‘Past the Boiling Point’ With Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lately, Donald Trump isn\u2019t getting everything he wants on Capitol Hill, where many Republican lawmakers are getting nervous about holding on to their majorities in the coming midterm elections. More are willing to publicly buck unpopular parts of the president\u2019s agenda \u2014 and it\u2019s not just a small group of critics.<\/p>\n

Read more Sen. Tillis\u2019 Vote Is Key in Blanche\u2019s Bid To Stay Atop the DOJ<\/a><\/p>\n

In recent weeks, Republicans have rebelled against Trump\u2019s demand to fund the construction of a White House ballroom, a Department of Justice compensation fund for people it says were wronged by the government and Trump\u2019s choice of Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and a stalwart ally with no intelligence experience, to oversee the nation\u2019s intelligence agencies. As the war with Iran continues, both legislative chambers voted to rebuke the president\u2019s strategy<\/u><\/span> in what appears to have turned into another quagmire in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to oppose the president just for the sake of opposing the president, but unlike the president, we have a third of our members up for reelection this year,\u201d Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), who is retiring, said the threats to the GOP\u2019s control of congressional majorities in an interview with NOTUS. \u201cI just think more members, you know, the closer you get to the election, the more real these threats become, and the more realistic people get.\u201d<\/p>\n

And on Thursday, three vulnerable Senate Republicans on the ballot in November \u2014 Susan Collins of Maine, Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Jon Husted of Ohio \u2014 voted with Democrats<\/u><\/span> to kill Trump\u2019s \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund. Their effort didn\u2019t succeed, but it signaled deep anxiety about supporting what Democrats have dubbed a \u201cpolitical slush fund\u201d for Trump allies.<\/p>\n

On top of Trump\u2019s recent moves that have upset members, it\u2019s been the timing that has particularly angered them, three Republican sources told NOTUS.<\/p>\n

The party-line package aimed at bolstering funding for border operations and Immigration and Customs Enforcement was on a relative glide path to passage, even as members considered how to handle money to secure the planned ballroom and East Wing modernization project.<\/p>\n

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That changed, however, when Trump announced the so-called \u201canti-weaponization fund,\u201d to steer taxpayer money to those arguing they were targeted by the government.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a really stark frustration that\u2019s probably past the boiling point to a place of resentment, actually,\u201d one senior Senate GOP aide said. \u201cYou\u2019ve had, whether it\u2019s Senate Republican leadership and really just generally the conference working really hard to deliver the president\u2019s agenda, and frankly it\u2019s the White House and the president himself that keeps shooting us in the foot when we\u2019re on the goal line of delivering some of these key things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) pointed at the White House for mismanaging the process, lobbing a grenade on Capitol Hill that derailed the party-line immigration bill last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fund was released abruptly,\u201d he said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t fleshed out. People had a-zillion-and-one questions. The attorney general came. He didn\u2019t answer all the questions, in part, because we ran out of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump also infuriated members by endorsing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn just a week before the primary. Many Republicans were miffed at the late move to defeat Cornyn, a popular lawmaker and former top Senate leader.<\/p>\n

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Most recently, Trump announced that he would be tapping Pulte to become acting director of national intelligence despite him having no national security experience. That decision has jeopardized the reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, leaving some in the party to wonder why he did not wait to make that personnel announcement until after the legislative push was complete.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomebody\u2019s not serving him well,\u201d said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota), adding that the timing of the Pulte announcement specifically was \u201ca mystery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more House Passes Ukraine Aid in Rebuke of Republican Leaders<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWith Donald Trump, he\u2019s usually a step ahead of all the rest of us, and oftentimes you look back and go, \u2018Oh, that makes sense now.\u2019 I think some of it may be that, on one hand,\u201d he said. \u201cOn the other, maybe he\u2019s not being served as well by advisers as he was in the first term, because some of this stuff does seem like unforced errors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Due to the blowback from members of his own party, the president announced Thursday afternoon that Pulte\u2019s move to DNI post was temporary. \u201cHe\u2019s not going to be permanent because, you know, I don\u2019t think he\u2019d want to be permanent, Trump told reporters. It\u2019s unclear if that comment will get the surveillance bill back on track.<\/p>\n

Another question centers on whether Trump\u2019s directives to Capitol Hill still carry the kind of weight that they did at the start of his second term. One GOP source specifically pointed to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche\u2019s recent declaration under oath to the Senate Appropriations Committee that the weaponization fund is dead, indicating that it was needed for members instead of a declaration from Trump via his Truth Social feed or in another manner.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s decision this week to nominate Blanche to a permanent position as attorney general will also test his sway with Republicans on Capitol Hill. Two Republican senators that Trump has repeatedly attacked and essentially pushed into retirement \u2014 Tillis and Cornyn \u2014 serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is tasked with processing Blanche\u2019s nomination. Either senator could block Blanche\u2019s nomination.<\/p>\n

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Tillis has expressed concerns with comments Blanche made in the past when he served as Trump\u2019s personal lawyer, as well as his position on the DOJ \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we need to do right now is focus on the [DOJ] fund, or he\u2019s not going to have a very good time in the Judiciary Committee,\u201d Tillis said Thursday of Blanche.<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune also seemed uncertain about Blanche\u2019s path to confirmation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an environment where nothing is a safe or true bet,\u201d he told reporters Thursday.<\/p>\n

That environment includes bipartisan discontent with the Iran war and its inflationary effect on the price of gas and consumer goods. Trump\u2019s approval rating is at record lows, according to The Economist<\/u><\/span>, giving Republican lawmakers more freedom to speak out against policies they don\u2019t agree with.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like, \u2018OK, I\u2019m going to take my stand and push back against the president.\u2019 These are not good ideas,\u201d Sen. Lisa Murkowski said in an interview with NOTUS. \u201cIt\u2019s not a good idea to tell the American public that I want to renovate a ballroom and I\u2019m going to pay for it with donations, and then turn around and say, \u2018I need taxpayer dollars for it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not, you know, a design to be a revolt against Donald Trump. It\u2019s not a good idea, and we don\u2019t support the ideas that are not good ideas,\u201d she reiterated.<\/p>\n

Read more A Michigan Republican Violated the STOCK Act With Late Disclosures<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once loyal Republicans are showing more willingness to buck the president.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress"],"yoast_head":"\nSenate Republicans Are 'Past the Boiling Point' With Trump - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=214\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Senate Republicans Are 'Past the Boiling Point' With Trump - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Once loyal Republicans are showing more willingness to buck the president.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=214\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-05T09:10:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=214#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=214\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"Senate Republicans Are ‘Past the Boiling Point’ With Trump\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-05T09:10:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=214\"},\"wordCount\":1208,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=214#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/f860b8c0f92b78a66bd2f393b96e8cb2-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Congress\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=214#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=214\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=214\",\"name\":\"Senate Republicans Are 'Past the Boiling Point' With Trump - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=214#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=214#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/f860b8c0f92b78a66bd2f393b96e8cb2-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-05T09:10:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=214#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=214\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=214#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/f860b8c0f92b78a66bd2f393b96e8cb2-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/f860b8c0f92b78a66bd2f393b96e8cb2-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1706,\"caption\":\"Sen. 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