Donald Trump is coming to the rude realization that his control over the Republican Party is not absolute.
Over the past 48 hours, the president-elect has passed a stopgap spending bill that the president-elect publicly opposed after undermining Speaker Mike Johnson’s initial proposal to keep the federal government open after Friday. House Republicans vetoed it. Their defiance continued even as President Trump and his allies threatened to file preliminary challenges against Republican lawmakers who did not go along with them.
Then, Friday night and early Saturday morning, the House and Senate passed different versions of the spending plan. That did not include President Trump’s calls to extend or eliminate the debt limit.
This is the latest example of Trump facing the limits of his power, especially over his own party. Senate Republicans have already dealt a major blow to Trump, with some Republicans making it clear they would not support his top choice, Attorney General Matt Gaetz, leading to his withdrawal. And that was after Trump chose John Thune over Rick Scott to be the Senate Republican leader, against the wishes of Trump’s allies.
Taken together, the early rejection of Trump by rank-and-file Hill Republicans shows that the party is far from fully aligned with the president-elect.
“For a long time, there was always a voice saying, ‘Who in the Republican Party would stand up to Trump?’ And now we certainly have it. But it may not be in the ideal form. ” said Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist and appointee in Trump’s first administration.
“This is a turning point. How Trump responds from outside the caucus, how he deals with people who are not ready to make a deal…this is really a battlefield preparation, and what’s to come. It’s just a test run for the next four years,” Bartlett said. .
Mr. Trump’s push to get Republicans to accept his demands directly clashed with long-standing Republican resistance to ending the debt ceiling. Doing so is a big ask for fiscal conservatives, and when viewed through that lens, it’s no surprise that the bill passed.
President Trump hailed the deal as a “Washington success” and called on “every Republican and even Democrats” to vote yes on the bill, which he called “crucial to the America First agenda.” However, there were some people within the party who were on a different level.
“Republicans campaigned on cutting spending and reducing the $35 trillion national debt. Suspending the debt limit alone won’t accomplish that,” said Rep. Kat Cammack, R-S.C. , Florida) said. I wrote to X on Thursday. “I will not grant Joe Biden an unlimited extension of the debt ceiling until President-elect Trump takes office.”
Rep. Greg Lopez (R-Colo.), another Republican who opposed the bill on Thursday, said in a statement that it would “remove the debt ceiling and increase the debt ceiling without taking into account our nation’s $36 trillion debt. I cannot support the continuing resolution to repeal it.” Open your checkbook to spend more money that Congress doesn’t already have. ”
And Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) said on X that “stopping reckless spending and immediately addressing the national debt” would allow President Trump to “break the status quo.”
“While I understand President Trump’s concerns that the fight over the debt ceiling will delay implementation of his policies, he needs to get back to business as usual in Washington right now to make America great again,” McCormick said. It has to end.”
Their resistance is an early sign of areas where Republicans intend to break with President Trump on policy, and while the president-elect enjoys broad influence over Mr. Johnson, This is a warning that this may not apply to all party members. – Create a file for each vote. And with such a slim House majority, defiance by just a few Republicans could have an impact.
“We’re talking about things like MAGA and the Freedom Caucus, but a good portion of the conference is OG Tea Party participants,” said Doug Hay, a Republican strategist and Hill alumnus. “Raising the debt ceiling would test the limits of what would otherwise be a tremendous influence over the party.”
A source close to President Trump said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly that the results showed the number of whiplashes within the caucus and that “a lot of pigs were taken out,” making it difficult for the president-elect to use the results. characterized it as a victory.
Speaking to reporters after the House of Commons vote, Johnson suggested that Trump was supportive of the revised spending plan. Johnson was “in constant communication” with Trump and the president-elect “knew exactly what we were doing and why we were doing it,” he said.
But people close to the president-elect say Trump has been urging Johnson to tackle the debt ceiling for more than a month. And hours after his desired deal went under fire, he began pushing for raising the debt ceiling even further, until 2029.
The spending debacle has some Republicans worried that President Trump is focused on the wrong things and won’t achieve as much as they hoped, as he did in his first term. are.
A person close to Trump, who spoke candidly on condition of anonymity, said the president-elect’s decision to use political capital to fail to pass a new funding bill that would end the debt ceiling was a sign of the failed attempt to quickly repeal Obamacare. I was worried that there would be a repercussion. His first term was instead pursuing more popular policies such as an infrastructure overhaul.
“I hope we are not in the same situation as here,” the official said.
