Trump's Job
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) called for Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.) to be replaced as Senate Republican leader Sunday, denouncing the new border security deal McConnell supports as “an unmitigated disaster.”
“This feels like an elaborate practical joke. But it’s not funny. Not one bit,” Lee wrote on social media when the details of the bill were made public.
This follows, though, on the remarkable success of the House conservatives in removing Kevin McCarthy as Speaker and replacing him with Mike Johnson. Trump has allied himself with Johnson over the Senate "compromise":
In terms of dictating Republican policy, Trump in recent weeks has gone out out of his way to try and kill the bipartisan bill to address border security.
Trump, who has spoken repeatedly with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., says the bill in unnecessary, and that Biden should use the authority he already has to seal the border.
Johnson reiterated his opposition in the wake of the final text's release:
“I’ve seen enough,” Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) declared Sunday night.
Just hours after Senate negotiators unveiled their pro-migration border bill, Johnson pledged the bill would never move through the House.
“This bill is even worse than we expected, and won’t come close to ending the border catastrophe the President has created,” Johnson posted on X. “As the lead Democrat negotiator proclaimed: Under this legislation, ‘the border never closes.'
This is clearly setting up an intra-party conflict between Trump, McConnell, and the Senate moderates. The problem for the moderates is Trump's currently growing strength in the polls, while his only remaining opponent, Nikki Haley, ia rapidly shedding credibility. Her remarks so far have been in favor of the Senate compromise, although passage in the Senate itself isn't assured.Another major goal will be removing Ronna McDaniel as head of the Republican National Committee:
Donald Trump appeared to distance himself from Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel on Sunday amid growing discontent from some of his allies, suggesting that her time leading up the organization might be coming to an end soon.
“I think she did great when she ran Michigan for me,” Trump said on Sunday during an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Features [sic]” with Maria Bartiromo. “I think she did okay, initially, in the RNC. I would say right now there’ll probably be some changes made.”
. . . His more skeptical turn on Sunday surprised some people close to his political operation who had seen the appeals to Trump, but believed he’d remain above the fray given the nearing general election.
Trump allies have grown increasingly sour on McDaniel over the past few months, and the criticism came to a head last week when FEC filings revealed the RNC had around $8 million cash on hand, marking its worst fundraising year in almost a decade. In recent weeks and days, people close to Trump have ramped up their long-brewing complaints against McDaniel both in public and privately to the former president himself.
. . . Trump’s latest comments represent a sharp change in rhetoric when it comes to McDaniel’s position at the RNC: Last year, he said she’d done a “fantastic job” running the organization and opted against endorsing Harmeet Dhillon, one of his allies who ran against her for the position. After his victories in Iowa and New Hampshire, McDaniel urged Republicans to “unite around our eventual nominee, which is going to be Donald Trump,” an unusual direct endorsement from a sitting party chair that came despite Trump shunning the RNC-organized debates.
Ms McDaniel clearly understands her new circumstances. As Trump secures the delegates to assure his nomination, I feel pretty certain he'll move to consolidate control over the party, something he hadn't had in his first term.