Copyright Raw Story
Following what Politico deemed the Republican "party’s worst electoral drubbing in at least six years," GOP senators made it clear they had plans to "blow Trump" off as the president enters the "dawn of his lame duck era." After President Donald Trump hosted Senate Republicans Wednesday for an election night post-mortem, he demanded they get rid of the filibuster to fix things in "classic Trump dominance theater," Politico writes. But whereas in the past these performances would successfully muscle "recalcitrant Republicans to confirm controversial nominees," Politico notes, this time was different. "Upon returning to the Capitol, the senators made it very clear: They planned to blow Trump off," Politico reports. "One GOP senator, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, laughed out loud when asked about the anti-filibuster push." "Welcome to the dawn of Trump's lame duck era," Politico writes. And while he still remains popular with GOP voters, Tuesday's election blows give Republican lawmakers a bit of an out. "There are growing signs that lawmakers are contending with the facts of their political lives: He’ll be gone in just over three years, while they’ll still be around," Politico writes. Despite his lame duck status, Trump still faces precarious political pitfalls in this new era. "The danger for the president is that if Trump can’t run roughshod over the thin GOP congressional majorities, it would leave him few legislative options given his scant interest in compromising with Democrats," Politico says. For Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), Trump's push to pulverize the filibuster will backfire on Republican. “He has zero ability to work across the aisle,” Bacon says. “He needs to face reality and learn how to talk to Democrats he can reason with.” Some Republicans aren't as overt, privately signaling "they’re prepared to break with Trump if he doesn’t allow Republicans to negotiate on an extension of the Obamacare insurance subsidies Democrats are demanding," Politico reports. These quiet Republicans are blaming Trump and Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought, for "favoring hardball moves such as canceling blue-state transportation projects and firing federal employees that only served to cause Democrats to dig in further." One "irate" anonymous senior House Republican blames them for igniting the historic government shutdown through "their unprecedented move to unilaterally rescind congressional funding over the summer through a so-called pocket rescission." “That decision is why we’re in this mess,” the Republican tells Politico. Other Republicans agree with Trump's Truth Social declaration that they lost because the president wasn't on the ballot — and note his lame duck status doesn't help that. “Trump drives turnout, and if he’s not on the ballot, the turnout is way down,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) says. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) agrees, saying voter drop off in non-Trump years is “an issue for Republicans.” James Blair, a deputy White House chief of staff disagrees and thinks that lame duck or not, it's all one big, happy MAGA family with or without Trump. “The president, you know, sort of has his way of communicating, but the senators have their way, and it’s a family at the end of the day," Blair says. "And I think the president’s view is, it’s not breaking.” The right-wing Heritage Foundation's president, Kevin Roberts, is facing "open revolt" from his members and allies over his defense of former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and his handling of the controversy around the think tank's Project 2025 blueprint. Roberts infuriated many in the conservative movement for posting a video defense of Carlson, who set off a firestorm of his own by inviting Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes onto his podcast, and the Heritage president faced calls to resign Wednesday at a staff meeting for using language that many see as antisemitic tropes about a “venomous coalition” and “the globalist class," reported the Washington Post. "Legal fellow Amy Swearer during the meeting called Roberts’s handling of the controversy 'a master class in cowardice that ran cover for the most unhinged dregs of the far right' and described a loss of confidence in his leadership. Asked later in the meeting about his use of the term 'globalists' — a common dog whistle for a conspiratorial view of world 'Jewry' — Roberts said he didn’t mean to imply criticism of anyone of any particular faith," the Post reported. The meeting erupted into a squabble over whether Christian employees would be forced to participate in Jewish rituals, the newspaper reported, and at least five members of Heritage’s antisemitism task force have resigned in protest, along with distinguished fellow Chris DeMuth, and Roberts attempted to contain the damage. "Roberts [told staffers] Heritage was 'wordsmithing and workshopping' language over how to distance itself from Carlson, though Roberts said he would remain a personal friend," the Post reported. "He called Fuentes an 'evil person' but one who 'has an audience of several million people, and at least some of that audience might be open to be converted' to mainstream conservatism." Some staffers did defend Roberts, with one referring to employees who spoke to reporters as "Judas," and the think tank president's speechwriter Evan Myers suggested that efforts to address antisemitism accusations would eventually mean he'd be forced to sit down for a Shabbat dinner that he complained would conflict with his own faith. Roberts has angered many in the conservative and MAGA movements during his four-year tenure as head of the $335 million foundation by backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the 2024 GOP primary and then promoting the think tank's Project 2025 as a Trump-aligned initiative, and women staffers have complained they face demeaning treatment inside the organization. “This was the final straw for me. It’s just the last one, but there are many that have come before it,” researcher Rachel Greszler told Roberts at the staff meeting. “You have always been kind to me, but I do not believe that you are the right person to lead the Heritage Foundation.” Roberts acknowledged Monday in a speech at Hillsdale College that he let his disdain for so-called cancel culture "override" his desire to appeal to “disaffected young men who are looking for belonging and identity by following the wrong people," but that apology fell flat with some Heritage staffers. “When Kevin Roberts repeatedly defended Tucker Carlson after his kid-glove treatment of Nick Fuentes, I lost faith that Heritage is the right institution to lead this important fight,” said lawyer Ian Speir, who had been a member of the antisemitism task force. “We cannot let this malevolent evil make further inroads into our politics and civil discourse. It will literally destroy us.” Roberts posted an apology video Wednesday night on X, after the staff meeting revolt. "Everyone has the responsibility to speak up against the scourge of antisemitism, no matter the messenger, he said in a video posted on X. "Heritage and I will do so, even when my friend Tucker Carlson needs challenging."
