Does Trump care about the Republican majorities?

IN THIS EDITION

Trump is doing whatever he wants now

Massie loses, Collins and Dooley advance, plus more primary takeaways

Ballroom’s future looks bleak

What we’re watching

THE TOP

Trump is doing whatever he wants now

Happy Wednesday morning.

With less than 24 weeks until Election Day, President Donald Trump seems almost maniacally focused on doing and saying things that could harm Republicans’ chances of keeping their House and Senate majorities in November.

With voters saying they’re frightened by high prices and disappearing healthcare coverage, Trump is building a new billion-dollar White House ballroom and asking for taxpayer money to secure it. His administration announced Monday that it was setting up a nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate victims of “weaponization and lawfare” under the Democrats, a move that shocked even Republicans.

As gas prices skyrocket due to the unpopular war in Iran, Trump says it’s a “very small price to pay” as long as he believes the conflict is proceeding to his liking.

The president is targeting GOP members and senators for defeat, even if it makes it harder for Republicans to keep the seat.

Trump is dramatically reshaping the physical layout of the District of Columbia, too, ordering up a massive celebratory arch near Arlington National Cemetery, putting his face and name all over federal buildings, beginning to install a championship golf course next to the Potomac and spending millions of dollars to refurbish the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall.

Trump is pulling some U.S. combat troops out of Europe, pushing giant “Trump battleships” for the Navy and even letting his Defense secretary campaign against one of the president’s political opponents.

In sum, Trump appears to have all but given up any pretense that he’s concerned about the increasingly fragile Republican majorities on Capitol Hill.

Let’s go deeper into the three most recent examples of Trump’s indifference:

1) Trump bucked Senate Majority Leader John Thune and top Senate Republicans on Tuesday and endorsed scandal-plagued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). Part of Trump’s rationale: Paxton has been “extremely loyal” to him, and Cornyn was “very late in backing” the president’s 2024 bid.

Trump has also succeeded in defeating Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), two longtime Republicans who’ve antagonized him for different reasons.

Senate Republicans, who gave Cassidy a standing ovation at their weekly party lunch on Tuesday, were furious over Trump’s Paxton endorsement. But few expressed it directly — perhaps out of a fear that they would become a Trump victim themselves.

Instead, GOP senators privately griped about Trump forcing out one of their most prolific fundraisers; Cornyn has raised more than $400 million for Republican candidates and incumbents over his long Senate career. Many saw the episode as Trump once again using Senate races to advance his personal goals at the expense of the GOP majority, as he did during the 2021 Georgia runoffs.

In this case, Trump essentially dangled a Cornyn endorsement to push Republicans to end the filibuster and pass the SAVE America Act, a longtime obsession of his. It wasn’t a coincidence that those two issues were at the top of Trump’s Truth Social post backing Paxton. Senate Republicans spent $90 million boosting Cornyn, in part to secure Trump’s endorsement. But in the end, Trump unexpectedly called Paxton on Tuesday morning and said he would back the AG.

“Maybe he thinks that with the strength of a Trump endorsement, that Paxton can win,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said mockingly. “I think that this puts that seat in jeopardy.”

Some Senate Republicans were passing around a clip of Vice President JD Vance claiming that Cornyn wasn’t there for Trump “when it really counted.” They scoffed at this assessment, noting that Cornyn served as the GOP whip during the first Trump administration. Vance himself was a one-time Cornyn intern.

With Paxton expected to become the GOP nominee to take on state Rep. James Talarico, Republicans are concerned that Texas could become a $1-billion race, diverting precious resources from states like Georgia, Michigan, Maine and Ohio.

2) Trump seems intent on speaking publicly about the White House ballroom project almost daily. Regardless of your views about the necessity of White House renovations, it doesn’t take a political wiz to come to the conclusion that now might not be the best time to brag about building a plush ballroom.

The White House desperately wants Congress to approve $1 billion for the Secret Service to address various security needs. But that legislative push has become inextricably intertwined with using taxpayer money to protect the ballroom, making it nearly impossible to foresee Congress approving the money. More on that below.

3) Trump’s Justice and Treasury departments have created a $1.776 billion fund to compensate Americans who feel as if they’ve been targeted by a “weaponized” Justice Department and federal agencies under Democrats. As part of this action, DOJ also ensured that the IRS couldn’t audit Trump and his family’s tax returns.

Thune then issued a rare rebuke of the president, saying he doesn’t see a “purpose” for the fund and raising questions about how it would be used. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche insisted Tuesday that “anybody” could seek a payout on claims of weaponization, including someone like Hunter Biden.

This is going to spark a major fight as Congress gears up to fund federal agencies during the next few months. Thune said the fund must be fully vetted. The question at hand: Should taxpayers foot a bill to compensate Trump allies whom the president feels have been unfairly targeted by the Justice Department? A group of five commissioners — four appointed by the administration and one by Congress — will get to decide who gets paid off.

Consider this: Trump now has a Senate Republican Conference that includes two senators he targeted for defeat, plus a handful of vulnerable Republicans who are simply hoping to survive the midterms. Getting to 51 will be very difficult for the rest of 2026.

— Jake Sherman, Andrew Desiderio, John Bresnahan and Ally Mutnick

TODAY: Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) and Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) join us at 1:30 p.m. ET to discuss the news of the day, the importance of early and accurate dementia diagnosis and their work on the Alzheimer’s Screening and Prevention (ASAP) Act. RSVP to join the livestream here!

THE CAMPAIGN

Massie loses, Collins and Dooley advance, plus more primary takeaways

Here’s what we learned from an eventful primary day.

President Donald Trump’s chosen candidate routed longtime Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) on Tuesday in one of the most expensive House primaries ever.

Former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein is the likely new member of Congress from this deep-red Kentucky 4th District. Trump and his allies made it their mission to unseat Massie, a far-right firebrand who had opposed key planks of Trump’s agenda. Some $33 million later, Massie lost by more than 10,000 votes.

Trump is riding on a revenge-tour high. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) failed to even make his primary runoff last Saturday. The president’s decision to endorse Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton could very well spell doom for Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) in his May 26 primary runoff against Paxton.

Georgia. Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) and former football coach Derek Dooley advanced to a June 16 runoff in the Georgia Senate GOP primary. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) finished third.

GOP Gov. Brian Kemp endorsed Dooley, and Kemp’s super PAC spent big to get Dooley into second place.

Collins and Dooley are vying to take on Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) in the general election. Republicans once viewed Georgia as their party’s top flip opportunity. But as the GOP primary stretches on and Ossoff continues to stockpile massive amounts of cash, some in the party see Michigan as a better opportunity to pick up a blue seat.

Also in Georgia, state Rep. Jasmine Clark won a crowded Democratic primary to succeed the late Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.) without a runoff.

Kentucky Senate. Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) won the Kentucky GOP Senate primary over former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron. Trump intervened on Barr’s behalf, endorsing the House Republican and getting Nate Morris to drop out to assume a yet-to-be-announced post in the administration.

Barr will face the unsuccessful 2022 Democratic candidate, Charles Booker, in the general election.

Alabama Senate. Trump-endorsed Rep. Barry Moore (R-Ala.) advanced to a runoff in the Senate primary. As of early Wednesday morning, the race for second was still too close to call between Attorney General Steve Marshall and veteran Jared Hudson.

Pennsylvania. Firefighter Bob Brooks won a crowded 7th District Democratic primary to take on Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-Pa). Brooks, backed by the DCCC and Gov. Josh Shapiro, was targeted by a mysterious super PAC that tried to knock him out while boosting an underfunded opponent.

In the safely blue open 3rd District, state Rep. Chris Rabb won a crowded Democratic primary to succeed Rep. Dwight Evans (D-Pa.). Rabb, the progressive candidate backed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), beat the son of a former Philadelphia mayor and Evans’ preferred candidate.

– Max Cohen and Ally Mutnick

RECONCILIATION

Ballroom’s future looks bleak

Senate Republicans are eyeing final passage of their $72 billion ICE and Border Patrol reconciliation bill within the next 48 hours.

That likely means GOP leaders are getting close to ripping off their “Ballroom Band-Aid.”

Republicans’ push to include security funding for President Donald Trump’s East Wing ballroom project is facing both political and parliamentary hurdles that now appear insurmountable.

GOP senators expect the $1 billion in Secret Service funding to be eliminated entirely or modified to remove any references to the controversial ballroom project, one of Trump’s favorites. Their next problem will be to manage Trump’s anger at their defiance.

The White House has been pushing aggressively for the ballroom language, but securing the requisite support from Republicans and the Senate’s parliamentarian has proven nearly impossible.

Two more GOP senators expressed public opposition to the ballroom effort on Tuesday, underscoring that there aren’t 50 Senate Republicans who’d vote to keep it in the bill. Most Republicans would prefer not to have to vote on this at all.

The parliamentarian has advised Senate Republicans that the ballroom-related language falls outside the jurisdiction of the two committees included in the budget resolution, Judiciary and Homeland Security.

For the purposes of budget reconciliation, anything related to the White House grounds falls under the jurisdiction of the Energy or Environment and Public Works committees.

The Senate Budget Committee will hold a mostly procedural markup this morning. It’s possible the Senate begins the floor process shortly thereafter. The vote-a-rama could begin as soon as tonight.

Some GOP senators think the process won’t begin until Thursday. But House GOP leaders are getting concerned about attendance issues if they have to wait until Friday to pass the bill, which could force them to punt until after the Memorial Day recess.

The House GOP leadership will vote today to give itself maximum flexibility to bring the reconciliation bill to the floor on the same day the Rules Committee reports out a rule.

Housing push. The House will vote on a major housing bill this afternoon. It’s a huge moment for House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who spent months defying the Senate’s push to jam the House with its own legislation.

After days of mounting pressure, those efforts paid off in a major way Tuesday night when the House’s amended bill secured White House approval. The Senate banked on direct support from Trump to jam the House with their package. Trump was distracted by the war in Iran and his push for the SAVE America Act.

Crucially for Hill, the Arkansas Republican is now on the verge of passing significant community bank deregulations into law — an outcome that seemed impossible just months ago.

— Andrew Desiderio, Laura Weiss and Brendan Pedersen

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What we’re watching

House. The House is back today. The House GOP will have its conference meeting at 9 a.m. Speaker Mike Johnson and his Republican leadership team will hold a post-meeting news conference with Rep. Jake Ellzey (R-Texas). House Democrats have an afternoon meeting before a news conference with House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar and Vice Chair Ted Lieu.

The House will consider a rule this morning for floor debate on several bills. The rule contains a provision that allows GOP leaders to bring up any bill the same day it’s voted out of committee. This could help House Republicans with the immigration reconciliation package either Thursday or Friday.

Senate. The Senate Budget Committee will mark up Republicans’ reconciliation bill at 9:30 a.m. The Senate could take the initial procedural vote on the package as soon as Wednesday.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold confirmation hearings on several nominations, including former Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.) to be ambassador to Australia and former Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.) to be ambassador to South Korea.

Washington. President Donald Trump is heading to the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., to deliver the commencement address.

– Jake Sherman

AND THERE’S MORE

Ad news. State Rep. Manny Rutinel is running a new broadcast and cable $250,000 buy in the Democratic primary for Colorado’s toss-up 8th District. Rutinel accuses his primary opponent, state Rep. Shannon Bird, of siding with President Donald Trump and empowering ICE.

Endorsement watch. New Politics is endorsing Democrat Leela Gray in Florida’s 13th District.

Defend the Vote is endorsing state Rep. Josh Turek’s Iowa Senate bid and state Auditor Rob Sand’s Iowa governor bid.

Money chase. Tiffany Guarascio, Democratic staff director for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Brandon Casey, Democratic staff director for the House Ways and Means Committee, helped rake in more than $700,000 for Democratic Frontliners during a Tuesday dinner at Smoke & Mirrors in Navy Yard.

A handful of other Democratic staff directors also joined in to support the event.

— Max Cohen and John Bresnahan