Senate Republicans are openly melting down behind closed doors as Donald Trump’s latest political demands push the GOP deeper into chaos heading into the midterms.
What was already shaping up to be a tense reconciliation fight reportedly exploded into a nearly two-hour shouting match Tuesday morning after as many as 25 Republican senators confronted Attorney General Todd Blanche over Trump’s controversial plan to create a nearly $2 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”
The proposed fund has sparked outrage because critics fear it could funnel taxpayer money to January 6 defendants and political allies loyal to Trump.
According to reports from Punchbowl News, senators spent hours arguing over whether the fund should explicitly ban payments to people convicted of assaulting police officers during the Capitol attack and who would ultimately control the commission overseeing payouts.
“Our majority is melting down before our eyes,” one Republican senator reportedly texted during the meeting.
The internal revolt comes on top of growing anger over Trump’s recent decision to endorse Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent Republican Senator John Cornyn, a move many Senate Republicans viewed as both politically reckless and deeply personal.
Some Republicans are also furious over concerns that Trump’s actions could further damage Senator Bill Cassidy politically back home after Cassidy repeatedly broke with Trump on issues tied to the Iran conflict and January 6 fallout.
The frustration inside the Senate reportedly became so intense that Majority Leader John Thune abruptly canceled a planned White House meeting and dismissed senators for the day altogether, effectively delaying movement on Trump’s broader immigration and deportation funding package.
That means Republicans are now likely to miss Trump’s own self-imposed June 1 deadline tied to funding expanded deportation operations.
Asked afterward whether Trump himself was responsible for the collapse in negotiations, Thune offered a carefully worded but revealing response.
“It’s hard to divorce anything that happens here from what’s happening in the political atmosphere around us,” Thune said. “You can’t disconnect those things.”
A senior Republican aide was even more direct.
“The problem that led to today’s breakdown is one of the administration’s own making, and it’s one they need to fix,” the aide said. “Until then, there simply aren’t the votes to proceed.”
Senator Lisa Murkowski also criticized the White House for detonating what had previously been a carefully coordinated reconciliation strategy.
“The White House dropped a bomb in the middle of a pretty well planned out reconciliation to deliver on President Trump’s priorities,” Murkowski said.
The infighting highlights the increasingly fragile state of Republican unity as Trump continues demanding loyalty tests, controversial spending provisions, and politically toxic initiatives that many GOP senators fear could become devastating campaign liabilities.
At the center of the storm is the “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” which opponents say risks becoming a taxpayer-funded reward system for Trump loyalists, including potentially individuals connected to January 6 prosecutions.
Even some Republicans who remain publicly supportive of Trump are reportedly scrambling to find ways to make the proposal politically survivable before the midterms.
Whether they ultimately defy Trump or eventually cave under pressure remains unclear.
But for now, the Senate Republican conference appears increasingly trapped between fear of Trump’s base and growing panic over the political damage his demands may inflict on the party itself.
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