This week, Senate Republicans left town for the Memorial Day recess without passing the reconciliation bill they’ve been drafting ever since Democrats refused to fund ICE without reforms. (Reconciliation is a process that circumvents a Senate filibuster, and so would allow Republicans to fund a number of programs on a pure party-line vote.) This bill touches on a number of controversial issues beyond ICE, but what derailed the process was Trump’s corrupt “anti-weaponization” fund to funnel taxpayer money to the violent criminals who invaded the Capitol on January 6.
At the same time, the House looks ready to pass a war-powers resolution calling for limits on the Iran War. Speaker Johnson had to take the bill off the floor to stop it.
Those two actions, together with some very public grousing about the cost of Trump’s gilded ballroom, suggests that (as the midterms approach and the regime makes ever-more-outrageous demands) Trump is losing his ability to dominate Congress.
Now, I hesitate to raise this idea, because we’ve lived through 10 years of speculation that Trump had finally gone too far, and his Republican support was about to crack. But it hasn’t. Is this time different?
That’s the subject of this week’s featured post, which should be out between 10 and 11 EDT.
The weekly summary will look at the rumors of a deal with Iran, Barney Frank, Tulsi Gabbard’s resignation, the progress of the Ukraine War, the Democratic “autopsy” of 2024, and a few other things. It should be out a little after noon.
The Weekly Sift 