The News
President Donald Trump got everything he demanded from his party for nearly a year. Now, suddenly, some of his dictates are falling flat with fellow Republicans.
Take Trump’s idea to send $2,000 tariff rebate checks to Americans, for example.
“We are $38 trillion in debt,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told Semafor. “Any revenue we get in ought to be used to reduce the deficit, not expand it.”
Johnson scoffed when asked whether it was tough to spurn the president on the issue: “Does it seem challenging? I’m telling you what I think.”
The rifts between Trump and the rest of the GOP are piling up. Indiana Republicans are declining to rewrite their congressional maps at the behest of the president, sparking a wave of redistricting regret on Capitol Hill. Trump’s pitch to eliminate Affordable Care Act subsidies is also drawing skepticism within the party, as is his bid to jam a moratorium on state AI regulations into a must-pass defense bill.
Republicans spurned Trump’s plans to import Argentine beef and shunned suggestions like a 50-year mortgage. Then there’s the nearly unanimous bicameral vote to compel the Trump administration to release Jeffrey Epstein files and the Senate’s rejection of Trump’s personal appeal to gut the filibuster.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said she didn’t see dissidents as behaving in “some premeditated” fashion, deciding that “‘oh, I think it’s time for me to oppose the president and show my independence.’” Instead, she said, Republicans are deciding that “‘this isn’t a good idea for my state’” on a case-by-case basis.
There are a lot of cases, though.
Trump “has 100 ideas a minute,” said Capito, the No. 4 GOP leader. “It’s pretty clear that, at some point, you’re going to be opposed or at odds with an idea, because there’s just so much.”
Even so, the fresh GOP resistance marks a new phase for a party that muscled through much of Trump’s agenda this summer with zero Democratic votes and quickly confirmed his Cabinet. Senate Republicans even changed their rules to approve Trump’s nominees faster.
The GOP is only guaranteed to hold onto all of Congress — and avoid an oversight onslaught — for one more year. That means Trump is feeling more urgency for Congress to act, propelling his attempt to conjure more seats and kill the filibuster.
“You think the president stays up at night, thinking about the rules of the Senate?” said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. “He doesn’t care about that. What he cares about is getting an agenda done. And I think he realizes that this Congress needs to act to deliver on his platform.”
Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, said Trump is “working night and day” to implement his agenda.
“In just a few months, the administration, working in lockstep with Republicans on the Hill, has delivered massive wins to the American people including: transformational tax cuts, no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, a secure border, and more,” Jackson said. “Americans want their elected leaders to implement the agenda they voted for, and that’s exactly what we are doing.”
Senate Republicans are considering moving another party-line spending bill early next year, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Semafor. The details haven’t been ironed out, and GOP senators were initially skeptical of the idea when the House pushed it during the summer, but some think Trump will appreciate an opportunity to achieve his goals that Democrats can’t stop.
“At some point, he’s going to look around and say: ‘What the hell is the Senate doing over there? Why aren’t they passing the bills that they can pass with 51 votes to pass my agenda?’” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La.
Step Back
With Trump’s poll numbers sinking, Republicans seeking reelection in 2026 will likely need to distance themselves.
Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said it’s reasonable for Republicans, “the closer you get to the election cycle,” to become “more cognizant … about how certain policy decisions are at odds with your constituents.
“People want to paint this shifting of posture in a negative light,” Tillis added. “I think when members hear enough from their constituents to where they need to speak truth … that’s a good thing.”
Still, Republicans first have to get through a primary season when Trump can play kingmaker.
“We’re different people with different opinions; we’ve got a job to do,” Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., a rare pro-Trump conservative who hails from a battleground district, told Semafor. “Everything’s good.”
Few Republicans are arguing that everything is good with the economy, though some blame former President Joe Biden and others argue Trump’s policies will take time to pay off. Republicans have generally supported Trump’s broad tariff regime since its unveiling in April.
The administration is already taking some steps to bring tariff-affected prices back down, which could provide more vulnerable Republicans with some cover on the campaign trail. GOP lawmakers hailed Trump’s decision to lift tariffs on coffee and fruits like bananas.
“It’s smart to lift tariffs on things that you don’t produce much of yourself; I mean, we’re never going to be a great banana producer” or “a big coffee producer,” said House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole, R-Okla.. “That’s just thinking through the system and making sense.”
However, that tariff relief also undercuts the administration’s argument that tariffs don’t drive up prices — an admission that could make it tougher for Republicans to sell voters on the Trump economy. What’s more, the lapse of expanded health insurance subsidies next month is poised to spike premiums while energy costs are also rising ahead of the winter.
Trump is creating messaging challenges beyond the economy for his party. Among them: his implication Thursday that some Democratic lawmakers should be executed for suggesting military members disobey his orders.
House Speaker Mike Johnson defended Trump’s suggestion of executions; Senate Majority Leader John Thune took a different tack, saying that Democrats’ remarks were “ill-advised, unnecessary and clearly provocative, but I certainly don’t agree with the president’s conclusion on how we ought to handle it.”
Thune also pushed back on Trump’s plans to import Argentine beef and moved the Epstein bill without the changes requested by Johnson. He’s held the line on the filibuster, too.
“Thune is a believer in the institution of the Senate. He is mature; he is the adult in the room,” said Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb.
Room for Disagreement
Some Trump allies aren’t convinced that the current resistance means much, given the stiffer intra-party opposition the president faced during his first term.
“Republicans aren’t turning on President Trump. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger aren’t in Congress anymore,” said Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio.
The View From Democrats
Across the aisle, Democrats see their opponents responding to Trump’s sinking approval ratings.
“Losing his grip on Republicans is something new. The poll numbers are a massive rejection of him by voters across the spectrum. There are lots of warning signs for Republicans that they need to separate themselves from this guy,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.
Burgess and Eleanor’s View
The GOP is still much more Trumpy than it was eight years ago, but it’s undeniable that Republicans are feeling a little more comfortable disagreeing with the president this week. It’s impossible to ignore, from statehouses to Congress.
And the trend may well continue into next year, particularly after the primary season is over and Republicans have to sell themselves to voters in order to keep their Hill majorities. Of course, Sen. Johnson didn’t support Trump’s tax cuts bill, either — until he did.
Notable
- Florida Republicans are also pushing back on the Trump administration’s proposed offshore drilling plan.
- We delved deeper into the Senate Republican doubts about a second party-line bill back in July.