Iran war

Four Republicans joined all Democrats to pass the resolution in a sharp rebuke of Trump’s leadership.

GOP lawmakers have long implored the president to focus on affordability issues such as lowering gas and grocery prices. But the Iran war, now in its third month, has thwarted Trump’s ability to address pocketbook issues.

“The challenge is that we can’t have a serious conversation about the economy and things until things in Iran are sorted out,” said Jason Roe, a Republican strategist who worked on the presidential campaigns of former Sen. Mitt Romney and Secretary of State Marco Rubio

Iran suspended negotiations with the U.S. on Monday, less than a week after U.S. and Iranian negotiators had agreed to extend the ceasefire for two months. Without an official peace deal, it is unlikely that Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz will end or that gas prices will come down.

“For three months, we’ve been told that a deal is coming tomorrow, and there’s not that many tomorrows left,” Roe said.

Anti-weaponization fund

Republicans on Capitol Hill widely pushed back against the Justice Department’s $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund before the Trump administration eventually promised to “abide by” a court order blocking the funding from going out.

“The Department of Justice disagrees strongly with the decision on the Anti-Weaponization Fund put forth by the United States District Court Judge in the Eastern District of Virginia, wherein the Court stated that, under no circumstances, may the Department of Justice proceed with the Anti-Weaponization Fund recently established in order to make up for the tremendous abuse, harm, and hate unfairly shown to so many people,” the DOJ wrote on X.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche also told a House appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday: “We are not moving forward with the fund, period.” 

Trump, however, appeared to claim he had not given up on the funding in an interview with Pod Force One’s Miranda Devine that was published Wednesday. “No, a court ruled against it,” he said when asked about dropping the funding. He later told reporters about the fund: “I love it. I think it’s so important.”

“I’d have to ask the lawyers, I don’t know,” he added when asked whether the fund is dead or just paused.

Despite the conflicting messages, Congress made it explicit. Language for the funding was not included in a party-line budget bill focused on immigration, known as reconciliation. Yet some lawmakers are claiming they want language in the legislation that explicitly nixes the funding permanently. Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) recently slammed the White House for even putting forth the funding as a suggestion.

“My God, you put forth this restitution fund when we’re trying to get Homeland Security funded for three years and you think that’s going to go well,” he told CNBC’s Squawk Box on Wednesday.

Kennedy Center

A court order last week called for the administration to revert to using the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as the arts center’s name, rather than the Trump-Kennedy Center, sparking a lengthy from Trump on social media.

In a lengthy post on Truth Social, Trump called U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, appointed by former President Barack Obama, “a Highly Conflicted, Crooked Federal Judge.”

Cooper “said that I should not be allowed to spend my time and money in order to MAKE THE CENTER GREAT AGAIN, actually, far greater than it ever was before,” the president continued.

White House security funding

Lawmakers have also removed language that included $1 billion in Secret Service security funding for the East Wing ballroom in the reconciliation package, despite Trump’s insistence that the funding was necessary.

The Senate judiciary committee on Wednesday afternoon released its bill text, which struck the funding language from the reconciliation process. Republicans on Capitol Hill have grown weary of the $220 million taxpayer bill for the ballroom and that it risked derailing immigration enforcement funding.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said the changes ensure the immigration funding won’t be “held hostage by Democrats’ radical leftist agenda.”

Iowa governor’s race

One of the latest losses for the president came Tuesday night when Trump-backed Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-IA) lost the Iowa GOP gubernatorial primary to businessman Zach Lahn. This was the first high-profile receiver of a Trump endorsement to lose their race, after the president backed candidates who ousted Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).

Trump faces another test of his endorsement power on Tuesday, with South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette (R) locked in a competitive gubernatorial primary with South Carolina Reps. Ralph Norman (R) and Nancy Mace (R), as well as state Attorney General Alan Wilson (R).

Some Republicans claim the primary loss was simply a fluke and doesn’t represent Trump’s popularity within his MAGA base.

“He’s got a 99% endorsement rate where he wins, so even if it’s a couple of losses, I’m not super worried,” said Angie Wong, a GOP strategist and Miami GOP committee chairwoman. “I think the biggest loss for Trump right now is if he does not get the gas prices and the economy back on track.”

RANDY FEENSTRA LOSS DELIVERS BLOW TO TRUMP-ENDORSED CANDIDATE SUCCESS RATE

The White House pushed back against the president’s recent string of setbacks by pointing to Trump’s successes in a statement to the Washington Examiner.

“President Trump is the clear leader of the Republican Party, and anyone who thinks he is a lame duck is out of touch with reality,” White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said. “In just over one year, President Trump has turned the page on the failed Biden years and made our country greater than ever before with the most secure border in American history, the largest middle-class tax cut ever, and the lowest murder rate since 1900. The President will continue working every day to implement his commonsense agenda and achieve historic success for the American people.”