Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who is retiring after the president regularly criticized him, called it a ‘payout pot for punks’.
Trump Collides with Senate Republicans
Senate Republicans broke with President Trump over his administration’s plan to create a $1.8 billion settlement fund to pay people who claim political persecution, abandoning a vote Thursday on immigration-enforcement funding as opposition intensified.
The “anti-weaponization” fund is a Trump priority, after he alleged for years that his supporters, including those prosecuted over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol, had been targeted unfairly by the Biden administration. But its creation has run into blowback in the Senate, and the immigration-enforcement bill gave senators leverage to dig in their heels.
“I don’t like the fund at all,” said Sen. John Curtis (R., Utah), who added he didn’t think any guardrails could fix it. Sen. Thom Tillis (R., N.C.), a frequent target of Trump criticism who is retiring, called it a “payout pot for punks.”
With no resolution in sight, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) sent senators home for their weeklong Memorial Day recess, putting the Republican-led Congress on course to miss Trump’s deadline to have the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol measure on his desk by June 1.
Passing the measure “obviously became a more complicated and bumpy path than we had hoped for,” said Thune, who had raised his own concerns about the fund and said his colleagues had “very legitimate questions.”
Opposition to the weaponization fund went far beyond the handful of GOP senators who have spoken up publicly and included far more than half of Senate Republicans, according to people familiar with the matter.
The fight comes as Republicans are growing nervous about their prospects for the midterms and their ability to pass any significant legislation before November. The president’s decision this week to target another GOP senator, John Cornyn of Texas, for political extinction rattled many Republicans whose loyalty to the White House had been steadfast.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer, was dispatched Thursday morning to Capitol Hill to brief lawmakers on the fund and listen to their concerns. The two-hour closed-door meeting failed to win over Republican dissenters, and lawmakers left looking glum.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska) described the mood in the Blanche meeting as “challenging.” She said the announcement of the fund by Blanche earlier this week “dropped a bomb in the middle of a pretty well planned out” process to fund the immigration package.
The fund is the byproduct of a lawsuit that Trump filed against the Internal Revenue Service, seeking $10 billion in damages for the illegal disclosure of his tax returns by a government contractor. Trump then dropped the suit—in advance of a federal judge’s deadline—in exchange for the creation of the fund and an announcement by Blanche that pending tax audits of Trump and his businesses will cease.
In a one-page overview of the fund sent to Senate Republicans, the Justice Department wrote that there is “no partisan restriction: Democrats can submit claims, too,” and noted that as part of the settlement creating the fund, the president, “his sons, and the Trump Organization LLC will receive a formal apology but no monetary payment or damages of any kind. They cannot receive any money from the Fund, either.”
However, Blanche will appoint the commissioners who run the fund and Trump can fire them, and the fund’s definition of weaponization references actions taken by the Biden administration. Te Trump family and businesses do benefit from the end to their audits.
“We’ll do everything we can to stop this slush fund, whether it’s in the courts, whether it’s legislative,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y).
Senators have aired growing concerns about Trump’s heavy hand. The president stunned Republicans on Tuesday by endorsing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over Cornyn ahead of the state’s Senate GOP runoff next Tuesday. In recent days, Trump’s favored candidates defeated Sen. Bill Cassidy (R., La.) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R., Ky.) in GOP primaries. Those developments rattled Republicans and created what lawmakers call the YOLO caucus—lawmakers who have nothing left to lose—some of whom have become loud voices of opposition.
“Do you really think that the American people like the president suing himself, basically, then making a deal that benefits himself with a broad immunity, for not just for IRS dealings but anything else?” said Cassidy.
Cassidy for the first time voted this week with Democrats to advance a war-powers resolution designed to rein in U.S. military action in Iran. A similar House vote is set for later Thursday and could pass.
The uproar over the weaponization fund came a day after Republicans signaled they will abandon a proposal to provide $1 billion for security upgrades to the White House complex and Trump’s planned ballroom. Some GOP lawmakers worry the request appears tone-deaf amid a conflict with Iran that has pushed average gasoline prices past $4.50 a gallon across the nation.
“I know my constituents, and I’m sure many other representatives’ constituents do not want taxpayer money going to a ballroom,” said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.), the co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers’ Caucus who faces a tough re-election battle, on Wednesday. Fitzpatrick has also criticized the weaponization fund and introduced a bill with Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York to block any payments from it.
Tillis
GOP Sen. Thom Tillis on Trump’s $1.8B fund: “Your taxpayer dollars and my taxpayer dollars could potentially compensate someone who assaulted a police officer, admitted their guilt, got convicted, got pardoned, and now we’re going to pay them for that? That’s absurd.… When you take money from me to give to a purpose that I vehemently disagree with, that’s tyranny.”
McConnell
Nothing to Lose
Outgoing Republican Senators Thom Tillis (NC), Joni Earnst (IA), Bill Cassidy (LA), and Mitch McConnell (KY) have nothing to lose by bucking Trump.
Since Senator John Cornyn (TX) has nothing left to lose following Trump’s endorsement of pedophile-protecting Ken Paxton.
Trump has also attacked Sue Collins (ME). She looks like a gonner and will hold her ground regardless.
So, things can get messy passing legislation.
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The Fed will not be cutting rates any time soon.
May 21, 2026: Trump’s Ouster of Massie and Endorsement of Paxton Is a Sad Day for the US
Emboldened by his ouster of Massie, Trump endorses a horribly flawed Paxton.
This (Republicans and a better part of the Western world moves away from Trump) in many ways is like the East moving away from the West. And Trump is in a unique position in that he holds a lot of power. Some say the greatest power one can have in the world sits in the position of being the president of the United States.
A man in that position can do a lot of good, or a lot of harm. But a man in that position feeling isolated, threatened, and cornered can take the whole world down with him as he leverages his power to protect his ego and the beliefs he holds.
I’m sure many of you have heard the idiom: wag the dog. War is often a tool used to gain control, but war can also become a tool of distraction when one loses control.
Given Trump’s unpredictably, ego-centered black and white thinking with his hand on the nuclear button it’s not hard to think that Trump would think war was the best way to marry revenge against not only his opponents but also their loved ones (drafting young adults), and the means to prove the world was wrong about him.
World War 2 Germany comes to mind, and thus if this persists (the alienation, the abandonment, the hate piled on) we will soon be sitting (if we’re not right now) at the crossroads of not only our society but also for the world as one man finding he has nothing to lose will decide our fate in a blink of an eye.
https://youtu.be/4hirV-oxo1c
The BIG Reveal on Ken Paxton; Living in Texas about a decade I came across the lower than whale poo Mr. Paxton early on. As he’d already slithered onto the public scene as AG.
I was gobsmacked that as a former Securities Dealer he was elected with SEVERAL Criminal charges (the standard securities liar type, oh, I mean “misrepresentation”). Having been a broker early in life I had THOUGHT thsi kind of charges would be a death knull – especially for a DA!! To my amazement he was able to game the system; stalling the charges for years – then a travesty of some kind of “don’t do it again” slithering by. I’d have thought with SEVERAL litigants one couldn’t get off so easy. Alas, welcome to Texas politics! That turns out to be just a beginning.
A few years back after being charged (and again getting off) for accepting bribes for favoritism from a suspect builder. While that is percolating he starts cheating on his State Senator Wife – with another wonderfuly tacky GOP sleeze. She divorces him over some stupid “not Christ like” tennant, instead of the hard reality.
Then HIS STAFF TURN HIM IN FOR MORE BRIBES WITH A WHISTLEBLOWER LAWSUIT – BUSTING HIM WITH FIRST HAND INFO! You’d think that would do it right? NOPE. INCREDIBLE Texas sleeze prevails! He settles the whistlblower lawsuit for a fine. THEN TURNS AROUND AND EXPENSES IT FROM HIS OFFICE AND IT GETS PAID FOR BY TAXPAYERS!!
Just when you think that might (BY GOD SHOULD!) do it as GOP Statehouse members file impeachment charges against him. BUT BY GOD THIS SLEAZY WEASLE GOT HIS FELLOW GOP WEASLES TO DROP THE CHARGES LAST YEAR.
SO NOW THE SNAKE HAS THE GALL TO RUN FOR SENATOR. AND THE POPULACE IS SO BRAIN DEAD THAT HIS RIGHT-WING SUPPORTERS PLAYING TRUMP SUPPORT ADDS CONTINUALLLY FOR HIM (matched by Cornyn – AS IF TRUMP HAD ANY MERIT TO SUPPORT ANYWAY. AND LOW AND BEHOLD THE WEASAL SNAKE PAXTON IS A TOP CANDIDATE FOR SENATE HERE. (The good news is it leaves the GOP at risk from Upstart Tallarico – please God).
Hows that for Southern Political ignorance? Paxton has a laundry list of Felony Charges and Convictions a fraction of which you’d think would sink a DA! Guess that qualifies him for Senate!
(And the only reason I’ve kept up on Pacton’s crimes is because I thought he was toast LONG AGO! Sadly, the average idiot here doesn’t know a fraction of all his sleeze.)
It‘s still shocking that a US president would simply try to steal $1.8 billion taxpayer money in broad daylight by „settling“ with himself a lawsuit he had brought against himself.
Jesus fucking christ.p
Incitatus is waiting in the wings.
Why would a law abiding American citizen much less a president ask for a deal granting immunity from the IRS unless they were guilty of something rather major?
This is like granting himself a pardon for crimes yet undisclosed.
Totally ridiculous, something Al Capone would have done if he was elected president.
I would bet this will be challenged once an attorney general who is not an ass wipe is in place.
The treasonist protection fund is insulting to any thinking American Citizen, is a non-starter, and does not deserve further comment.
The fact that Blanche of all people is trying to sell it to congress just shows how completely corrupt the DOJ has become under this president. Blanche should be disbarred.
Rules for thee not for me:
The Senate approved a provision that allows senators to sue the federal government for up to $500,000 if their phone records are accessed without their knowledge. This measure was included in a spending bill following the FBI’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Hopefully, taco has finally gone too far. However, I am not holding my breath.