It seems that Republicans in Congress are learning the hard way that Donald J. Trump has no respect for them.
Earlier today, President Trump blew up the U.S. Senate’s budget bill, and according to bombshell reporting from NBS News, Republican Senate leadership had absolutely no idea it was coming until the mess landed in their laps.
NBC News’ Ryan Nobles now reports that Senate Majority Leader John Thune admitted that he “had no idea that Donald Trump was planning to blow this process up via his social media this morning. It was news to him when he saw the president’s position on this.”
Nobles goes on to report that the majority of Republicans he spoke with aren’t confident that they can pass Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill” immediately, the way the president wants. Especially considering the fact that, if a spending bill is not agreed upon and passed soon, a government shutdown is looming heavy on the horizon.
Trump is peddling hard for a $4 trillion deal that will allow for his massive tax cuts and a variety of new policies and plans. However, the bulk of Republican deficit hawks have absolutely no interest in another budget that will only see the debt ceiling go higher and add trillions more to the already outrageous national debt.
Without those deficit hawks, Donald Trump simply does not have the votes he needs to pass his astronomical budget bill.
Florida’s Democratic House Rep. Jared Moskowitz noted last week that Trump is now in a position where he has to find a way to satisfy the far-Right or he’ll be left with no other choice than to try to cut a deal with the Democrats.
In an effort to bring down the heat and avoid a shutdown, South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham proposed an approach that would introduce two separate bills — one that is more likely to easily pass through Congress and a second that would be packed with the more controversial proposals.
However, instead of handling the situation privately and professionally, Donald Trump took it upon himself to go straight to his Truth Social platform and blow up the whole deal by publicizing his support for one massive bill, chock full of everything he wanted.
“The vice president is going to join Republicans today for their Senate lunch to kind of hash out a path forward,” Nobles reports. “But it’s clear that the White House, the House of Representatives, and the Senate are not on the same page when it comes to this reconciliation package, and it is the most important agenda item for Donald Trump.”
The Senate was slated to vote on Graham’s proposed budget bill this week.
Watch the clip here:
Featured image via Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead