Raw Story: ‘Please reconsider’: GOP senators plead with Trump to stand down from latest fight

Posted on August 20, 2025 by M

President Donald Trump’s ploy to bully Senate Republicans into dropping a longstanding rule about presidential nominations appears to have crashed and burned, Politico reported on Tuesday — with lawmakers holding their ground against him in a way they generally dare not do.

The drama began in July, when Trump lashed out at 91-year-old Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA), calling him “weak and ineffective” and demanding he axe “blue slips,” the tradition that committees must have the approval of a nominee’s home state senators to advance a nominee.

Republicans already weakened blue slip rules for circuit court nominees in 2017, which is how Trump’s former personal lawyer Emil Bove got a circuit court appointment earlier this year despite objections from both of New Jersey’s senators. But they have been adamantly against eliminating them for district court judges or executive nominations.

Grassley pushed back, taking umbrage at Trump’s “personal insults” against him, and the broader Senate GOP caucus followed suit. According to Politico, there’s no sign of the GOP backing down — they may tinker with nomination rules to speed up confirmations on the Senate floor, but they won’t eliminate blue slips or weaken the committee vetting process.

Unlike in many other cases of resistance against Trump, where GOP lawmakers have given quotes anonymously, some senators are being quite open in rebuffing the president, with Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) telling Politico, “As a practical matter, the Senate’s not going to give up the blue slip. So my appeal to the president is: please reconsider. Why do we want to have this fight for nothing?”

There’s a key reason GOP senators don’t want to undermine their rules for Trump’s benefit here, strategists told Politico: they know it would backfire on them.

Mike Fragoso, a former adviser to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), “argued that even Republicans wary of crossing the president now have taken advantage of the blue slip policy when Democrats held power. He added that there are relatively few bench seats in solidly Democratic states that Trump could even fill now without consent from Democrats,” noted the report. This means Trump would get very few judges nominated by totally eliminating blue slips, but a future Democratic president could flood red states with district court judges of their own.

Beyond judges, however, Trump is being stymied by blue slips when it comes to appointing federal prosecutors.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has blocked Jay Clayton’s confirmation to be U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, while New Jersey’s senators have blocked another personal Trump lawyer, Alina Habba, for the prosecutor office there, prompting a standoff where Trump’s Justice Department has skirted rules and reversed decisions of local judges to install her on an acting basis.

‘Please reconsider’: GOP senators plead with Trump to stand down from latest fight

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-grassley-2673900010

New York Post: Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ will ‘turbocharge’ mass deportations with hiring of 10K new ICE agents: WH

Posted on July 6, 2025 by M

ICE will “turbocharge” its arrests and deportations of illegal migrants roaming the country when President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act is passed, administration officials said Tuesday.

The nearly 900-page megabill — which was approved by the Senate on Tuesday — will allow ICE to hire 10,000 new officers and double its capacity to detain illegal immigrants. It also offers a $10,000 a year bonus for immigration agents, according to the White House.

Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ will ‘turbocharge’ mass deportations with hiring of 10K new ICE agents: WH

The nearly 900-page megabill will allow ICE to hire 10,000 new officers and double its capacity to detain illegal immigrants. It also offers a $10,000 a year bonus for immigration agents, according…

https://nypost.com/2025/07/01/us-news/big-beautiful-bill-will-turbocharge-mass-deportations-wh

Raw Story: Bullying misstep threatens to leave Trump presidency ‘dead in the water’: WSJ

Posted on July 4, 2025 by M

Instead of letting the Republican Party’s Senate leadership wheel and deal with the megabill budget hold-outs, Donald Trump inserted himself — and now has been called out by the editorial board of the conservative Wall Street Journal for his bullying which, it wrote, could put his presidency at risk.

In a late Sunday afternoon editorial, the editors wrote that the president’s attacks on Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) are not helping and, in fact, are hampering the prospects of getting a deal done.

On top of that, they note, driving Tillis to announce he won’t run for re-election could lead to a lost GOP seat in purple North Carolina — and with it the GOP’s slim hold on the Senate.

Trump is an increasingly senile oaf who just doesn’t know when to zip it. Expect a lot more of this as he slowly slithers into memory-care.

Bullying misstep threatens to leave Trump presidency ‘dead in the water’: WSJ

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-presidency-2672500111

ABC News: ‘Tense’ security call among House Republicans following Minnesota shootings

Posted on June 17, 2025 by M

House Republicans held a conference call, which was described as “tense,” on Saturday with the House sergeant at arms and U.S. Capitol Police to discuss their concerns, multiple sources familiar with the call told ABC News. Several Republicans said on the one-hour call that they feel unsafe in their home districts and want more protection, sources said.

Which was major disinformation and fear-mongering aimed at Democrats. The perp, Vance Luther Boelter, was a MAGA maniac.

‘Tense’ security call among House Republicans following Minnesota shootings

Senators will be briefed by law enforcement Tuesday on safety and security after the murder of a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband on Saturday.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/tense-security-call-among-house-republicans-following-minnesota-shootings/ar-AA1GPofq

Guardian: Newsom says use of national guard for Ice raids ‘ends tomorrow at noon’ – as it happened

Posted on June 12, 2025 by M

A federal judge ruled that Donald Trump acted illegally when he commandeered the California national guard and ordered thousands of troops to Los Angeles amid protests over immigration raids. The troops return to the control of California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, at noon on Friday.

Newsom says use of national guard for Ice raids ‘ends tomorrow at noon’ – as it happened

Judge temporarily bars president from deploying troops to LA, an order president has already appealed. This blog is now closed.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/jun/12/la-protests-los-angeles-california-curfew-ice-immigration-marines-national-guard-donald-trump-latest-updates

Bloomberg: US Borrowers Face Higher Interest If Trump’s ‘Revenge Tax’ Becomes Law

Posted on June 4, 2025 by M

A measure in President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill that’s meant to penalize foreign investors may also raise interest costs for some US borrowers.

The so-called Section 899 provision takes aim at nations such as Canada, the UK and France that have digital services taxes or other corporate tax rules the US deems unfair. Investors and companies from those countries may see gradually higher tax rates on income they earn from US assets — which some analysts have called a “revenge tax.”

But Section 899 would affect loan interest payments in a way that would hurt some US companies, according to legal experts. Many lending agreements require borrowers to cover such tax hikes if they’re enacted after the deal is signed.

These requirements are known as withholding tax gross-up obligations. Borrowers remit the withholding tax to the US government, but they must “gross up” their payment to ensure the lender still receives the full amount of interest owed.

US Borrowers Face Higher Interest If Trump’s ‘Revenge Tax’ Becomes Law

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-04/section-899-us-borrowers-face-higher-interest-if-trump-tax-plan-wins

The Hill: Senate Republicans want to break up House’s Trump bill into bite-size pieces

Posted on May 20, 2025 by M

Senate Republicans say the House-drafted bill to enact President Trump’s legislative agenda has “problems” and are taking a second look at breaking it up into smaller pieces in hopes of getting the president’s less controversial priorities enacted into law before the fall.

Even if Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) manages to squeak Trump’s agenda through the House, it faces major obstacles in the Senate, where moderate Republicans say they oppose proposed cuts to Medicaid and fiscal conservatives say it doesn’t go nearly far enough in cutting the deficit.

“There are still a lot of problems,” said one Republican senator who requested anonymity to discuss internal Senate GOP discussions on the budget reconciliation bill.

Senate Republicans want to break up House’s Trump bill into bite-size pieces

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5304984-trump-agenda-stalled-senate-considering-split

CNN: Concerns about Hegseth’s judgment come roaring back after group chat scandal

Posted on March 27, 2025 by M

“I know exactly what I’m doing,” Hegseth told reporters Tuesday.

By Wednesday, however, other defense officials were increasingly skeptical of that, especially after The Atlantic magazine revealed the details that Hegseth shared in the Signal chat about the pending strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen, including the timing and types of aircraft.

“It is safe to say that anybody in uniform would be court-martialed for this,” a defense official told CNN. “My most junior analysts know not to do this.”

…

But former national security and intelligence officials say it’s Hegseth who looks particularly bad given the level of detail he shared.

“The egregious actor here is Hegseth,” said one former senior intelligence official. “He’s in the bullseye now because he puts all this out on a Signal chat.”

Interviews with multiple current and former national security officials this week, including career military and civilian officials, reflect growing concerns about Hegseth’s leadership at the Pentagon.

…

Many of his orders are verbal and based on gut instinct rather than a deliberative, multi-layered process, people familiar with his methods said.

“He’s a TV personality,” one of the sources said. “[A general officer] makes a recommendation, and he’s like, ‘Yeah, yeah, go do it.’ [Former Defense Secretary] Lloyd Austin would never be like, ‘Yeah, yeah, go do it.’

…

Several DoD officials told CNN that Hegseth seems more preoccupied with appearances than with substance—wanting to appear more “lethal” than his predecessor and pulling resources from elsewhere in DoD to achieve that image.

….

“Of all the things they could be doing, the places they’re putting their focuses on first are really things that just don’t matter … This was literally a waste of our time,” a defense official told CNN of the content purge. “This does absolutely nothing to make us stronger, more lethal, better prepared.”

And Hegseth is outranked and outclassed by his predecessors:

Hegseth ultimately rose to the rank of Major before leaving the National Guard in 2021, and has the least experience of any Senate-confirmed defense secretary in recent history.

His immediate predecessor Austin, a four-star general, served for 41 years and commanded US Central Command; former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper served as the Secretary of the Army before being confirmed as SecDef; and former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, also a 40-year veteran and four-star general, commanded US Central Command as well before being confirmed as Trump’s first secretary of defense.

Concerns about Hegseth’s judgment come roaring back after group chat scandal

Concerns about Hegseth’s judgment come roaring back after group chat scandal

The Hill: GOP lawmakers turn up the pressure on Hegseth