Trump himself has begun to appear increasingly bored of the political battles, preferring to talk about grand projects closer to his real-estate-developer heart.<\/p>\n
But Republicans worry that his focus on pet projects \u2013 like an Ultimate Fighting Championship bout at the White House on his June 14 birthday – make him look out of touch.<\/p>\n
\u2018Grandstanders!\u2019<\/p>\n
The biggest rebuke to Trump came on Thursday (local time) when the House of Representatives backed a resolution seeking to halt the increasingly drawn-out US military action against Iran.<\/p>\n
Trump on Friday (local time) lashed out on social media at the \u201cunpatriotic\u201d move and blasted four members of the Republican majority who crossed the floor to vote with rival Democrats as \u201cGRANDSTANDERS!\u201d<\/p>\n
Since his extraordinary return to power in January 2025, Trump has largely exerted an iron grip over the Republican Party.<\/p>\n
The party has, in turn, largely subsumed itself to Trump\u2019s wishes and to the goals of his \u201cMake America Great Movement\u201d (MAGA).<\/p>\n
There have been blips, particularly over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, when lawmakers voted to release files related to the late sex offender.<\/p>\n
But the economic fallout from the Iran war has deepened recent unease among Republicans about defending Trump\u2019s priorities when voters are worried about the cost of living.<\/p>\n
In the USA Today newspaper, columnist Rex Huppke said that Republicans were \u201cstarting to show the faintest signs of embryonic spines\u201d.<\/p>\n
Some of the most controversial of those priorities were front and centre as the US Senate embarked on a raft of votes on Thursday (local time).<\/p>\n
One of those was the proposed fund for Trump\u2019s allies who claim they were unfairly targeted by the Government, dubbed a \u201cslush fund\u201d by critics and provoking outrage among some Republicans.<\/p>\n
The Trump Administration said the plan was being dropped earlier this week after a judge ruled against it, but Trump himself indicated on Wednesday (local time) that he was still keen on it.<\/p>\n
\u2018Defections can matter\u2019<\/p>\n
Another controversial issue \u2013 a demand for US$1b for security for Trump\u2019s new White House ballroom \u2013 was dropped before it could be voted on.<\/p>\n
Two of Trump\u2019s recent personnel changes have also sparked dissent among Republican ranks.<\/p>\n
His choice of relatively junior housing official Bill Pulte to be the new US national intelligence chief has led to threats from some lawmakers to scuttle efforts to renew a powerful surveillance programme.<\/p>\n
Trump insisted on Thursday (local time) that Pulte\u2019s appointment was a stopgap, although it is one of his favorite tactics to use a temporary nomination to avoid a messy confirmation by the Senate.<\/p>\n
A bid to nominate his former personal lawyer Todd Blanche as the US Attorney General could run into similar trouble.<\/p>\n
While the cracks may be showing, Trump\u2019s hold over most Republicans remains clear.<\/p>\n
Trump has thrown his weight around by successfully backing MAGA candidates over Republican incumbents who defied him in several \u2013 very expensive \u2013 primaries.<\/p>\n
But that could also eventually work against him, said Sabato.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe defeated or forced into retirement several senators and representatives. In essence, he publicly humiliated them, and so now they aren\u2019t inclined to do Trump any favours,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Congress is closely divided in both chambers, and a few defections can matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trump himself has begun to appear increasingly bored of the political battles, preferring to talk about grand projects…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[95,806,8172,34595,128638,2178,7797,2753,8455,9978,42,16609,205803,47148,17576,235689,235688,43,4762,135,3430,2572,20959,5652,9939,684,40,38,41,39,2179,9938,3040,13797,102],"class_list":["post-465210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-and","tag-as","tag-backlash","tag-battles","tag-dissent","tag-donald","tag-elections","tag-eyes","tag-getting","tag-grows","tag-headlines","tag-iran","tag-lawmakers","tag-looming","tag-low","tag-midterm","tag-nervously","tag-news","tag-party","tag-politics","tag-polls","tag-president","tag-republican","tag-signs","tag-states","tag-there","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-trump","tag-united","tag-us","tag-used","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}