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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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.
Mr. TrumpCo, just go ahead and create the fund and seek donations from Poor People using GoFuckme (oops, FUND) and claim immediate victory by re-directing Funds set aside for Big Oil Lobbying. We all know that Lobbyist Money is now Tax Payer Funded, in a Masturbation Effort.
Hum talk them into treason. Pardon them. Then pay them. I dont think they will learn a lesson
What would be ironic is if this passes and all $1.8B went to Kilmar Abrego Garcia since the judge just ruled Trump’s DOJ’s prosecution of him was “vindictive”.
Then Garcia could fund mid-term election ads against Trump’s personal MAGA picks?
Funny how the all the people ransacking the Capitol on January 6 were liberals, plants, and ANTIFA—until there was money to be made from it.
Nobody was harmed more than baby Donnie. He’s going to keep every fucking penny himself
The US are a banana republic without a cuisine, without your round great weather, with scarce beautiful women, but with a $1.8 billion slush fund for compradores.
I have said for year that the United States is well on the way to being a glorified Brasil, albeit with worse weather, less attractive females, and a more hyperbelligerent foreign policy.
Fewer mosquitos, though. So it sort of balances.
Note that the situation in Brasil suits Brasilian elites just dandy.
You obviously don’t know Brazil to mention mosquitoes. Alas, every country suits its elites.
Brasil doesn’t have mosquitos the size of sparrows?
No, because Amazonian spiders eat sparrows and, confused, ate them all.
“When you take money from me to give to a purpose that I vehemently disagree with, that’s tyranny.”
Did he actually say that? Perhaps his definition of “vehemently” differs from the dictionary meaning. No, I can’t imagine a politician even thinking such a thing. There must be some nasty person putting words in his mouth. I await the update.
And some of us north of the 48th, thought our own PM was crazy
Justice for the persecuted J6 protestors has nothing to do with Trump. It has to do with justice. These Uniparty Senators supported the persecution. They support it still. Shame on them.
99% of J6 protestors didn’t do a damned thing wrong. J6 was a skillfully manipulated false flag by the DeepState. Hundreds of govt plants in the crowd. Pelosi and co. preventing proper policing. Media coached to be ready with the narrative immediately.
The weird thing is that Trump is on the right side for once. He didn’t spend a dime to help them during the persecution, their years in the DC Gulag.
I agree that it was a deep state operation (no such thing as an unarmed insurrection), but none of this slush fund money will go to help the grannies who got jailed for crossing a velvet rope.
Bonkers. LMAO.
it was a riot/insurrection. Trump whipped up protesters into into a frenzy and they stormed the Capitol.
just because they’re morons and it was a spur-of-the-moment insurrection doomed to fail doesn’t make it not an insurrection. they broke in to disrupt a legal handover of power, and it worked for like 10 minutes.
“Good luck storming the castle” Princess Bride
“…99% of J6 protestors didn’t do a damned thing wrong.” I call BS. Taking over the capitol to interrupt the transfer of presidency to duly elected official is WRONG!!!
It’s a slush fund for Trump – none of that money is going to the dirtbag peckerwoods that trashed the capitol building.
you mean the democraps and retardlicans?
you’re a cultist and deluded. J6 people were traitors and deluded like you. I love how maga pretends to love the police, but the police assaulted on J6 somehow is an exception.
Accurate assessment
so the people who went around calling other people ‘sheeple’ are now saying they were manipulated by the government.
Why should they get my tax dollars because they are too fucking stupid to know a government psy op operation?
Any idea why you’re not wanting Kash Patel to arrest the government plants in the crowd?
Trump controls the FBI. it should be pretty easy for him to show actual proof of what MAGA is asserting.
“99% of J6 protestors didn’t do a damned thing wrong.” and 99% of them did NOT get prosecuted.
we all saw the videos. thousands of people were false flag performers?? Even if you’re stupid enough to believe that it was instigated by the sitting government using hundreds of plants so what?? You’re telling me if someone talks me into bashing a cop in the face with a metal pole, that I’m innocent? it’s not an excuse to crime.
fact is Trump supporters beat cops with metal poles, broke their way through windows and climbed in to the Capitol, broke into offices, stole stuff etc… to disrupt the process of installing a duly elected president.
as for plants actually being in the crowd, where’s the evidence for that? Trump’s been back in control for 18 months. He’s installed puppets at FBI, DOJ… tey have access to everything including all operations. So where’s the EVIDENCE of any plants being there? Kash Patel in fact said agents did not participate.
Its one thing to go to a rally. You cross the line storming the capital. If your on vid walking down the hall your guilty of insurrection. There are various levels and the punishment should reflect those caught up in the moment and those who planned. . But guilty you are. .
“Misdemeanor Charges: Hundreds of individuals who entered the building without engaging in violence or destruction were only charged with misdemeanor offenses, such as unlawful entry and disorderly conduct.”
Punishment should be doled out in accordance with involvement. There is a difference between Planning and following violence and peaceful. All should be taken into account by a judge.
At the same time you entered a building that was guarded by police who were attacked. They were not peaceful protesters on a tour. The republican party (those at the top) is trying to rewrite history of the failed attempt overthrow of democracy. The average voter goes along with it because they cant admit they were lied to by their leaders.
Its another day in Trump deluded America , so sad
The big question is whether we can ever recover from this as a Nation
Now with this deviant of a man as president the country has entered a downward spiral of greed and corruption that is self reinforcing and hard to stop
That is a big question
Sorry, but color me unimpressed as a RINO for these alleged Republicans deciding to pretend to grow a spine after der drumpfer ensures their downfall. The only one with any kind of credential is Tillis who voted to impeach him after Jan 6, and to a lesser degree Massie, who was consistently willing to buck him on his most egregious excesses.
If anyone hasn’t figured out by now that Trump only values loyalty and doesn’t care about the party, then they are a fully committed cult member. Jim Jones aint got nothing on MAGA.
The republicans had a chance to let the dems pretty much take care of the problem. They put party over doing their jobs and now the republicans have to own it. To bad they are dragging the rest of the us with them.
infighting? Its probably endemic in this administration Donald Trump abruptly postpones AI order after White House infighting
Donald Trump abruptly postpones AI order after White House infighting
Train is off the tracks as MAGA enters the final stage of it’s inevitable meltdown.
20 games under .500 time for a rebuild old-school style!
If only we could get some young Turks off their dang devices long enough to accept the hand-off of the baton before the entire shit show burns to the ground!
Apparently all you have to do to get a Republican to pretend he cares is primary his ass.
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.)
He’s a perfect henchman for Trumpstien.
I read this blog and am amazed at how quickly i can find a Democrat-variant to every post regarding the slime on the Republican side. It’s instantaneous and why U.S. politics is unpalatable:
Paging Minnesota – Ilhan Omar marries her brother, somehow then qualifying for citizenship, becomes Congresswoman and her coningency of her home country’s immigrant population are proving to be pirates of billions in the state of Minnesota. She defends them and her party fights against the corruption-chasers and clawbacks.
We deserve each other I guess.
Typical utter GOP hubris. I MENTIONED FACTS ON PAXTON. FELONY CHARGES AND CONVICTIONS.
You? “A 2016 ANONYMOUS INTERNET POST.” NOT EVEN CLOSE TO FACTUAL. “The unverified rumors that Omar married her brother originated from an anonymous user on a Somali-American internet forum in 2016, and have circulated around the internet ever since.”
Typical GOP lies. There is ZERO verifiable proof of that.
Dude, I live in Omar’s district. She definitely did “marry” Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, and he definitely is her brother. School records from Capitol Hill Magnet School in St. Paul showed his father as the same person she’s acknowledged as her father. All the “fact check” sites in the world can’t change those facts. That’s why Elmi skedaddled to the UK. DNA tests could determine the issue, but they’ll never agree to that, since rubes will believe it’s just a “right wing conspiracy”. Deny, deny, deny. It works. I’ll still vote for her in the democrat (open) primary because I don’t like AIPAC knocking off candidates.
They’re not facts.
even if true she wasn’t formally accused and convicted of that. and she’s just a representative. one of 435. Trump is POTUS and appointing despiccable people to the most important federal positions.
MAGA rails against Soros with crazy conspiracies . . . and then Trump appoints literally the guy who ran Soros’ hedge fund as Treasury head. and MAGA still loves Trump. it’s a cult.
On the Dem side, at least people call them out and don’t stick by them if tey are proven criminals, like Sen Menendez. they cancel their own.
Welcome to modern politics; what don’t you understand? The tolerance and deliberate ignorance of voters (any democracy) never ceases to amaze me.
Unfortunately, it’s too late now – government is too big to stop.
Never assume people’s intelligence will supercede their ignorance as people always seek the easiest path over having to think. Reductionist fallacy + Dunning-Kreuger Effect. I call it Intellectual Laziness. The willful dumbing down of people.
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.
No more than the 3500 stock trades so far in his second term, or that ridiculous ballroom, or retrofitting that ridiculous jet Qatar gave him… or…
Interestingly, the actual size of the fund is $1.776 billion. But all the press rounds it to $1.8 billion. There is an obvious symbolism here. When asked about the size of the fund, the Trump administration said that they had carefully studied the number of expected claims and projected amounts, and that the total came to 1.776 billion. That’s ridiculous. It is just political messaging. Trump decided he wanted to steal a large amount of money from the government for his pals, and thought an amount of 1.776 billion would be nicely ironic.
Thieves.
You can’t steal from the government – it has no money it didn’t take (steal) from you.
Given that Trump considers himself the greatest US president ever (past or future!), next thing he will demand is 250 slush funds to celebrate 1776-2026.
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.
Al Capone would have been a better president.
Not just for him. For his family.
…and his businesses.
I read this blog and am amazed at how quickly i can find a Democrat-variant to every post regarding the slime on the Republican side. It’s instantaneous and why U.S. politics is unpalatable:
2024 Biden pardons his son and prememptively many family members along with a number of others preemptively. (most with autopen) A law abiding citizen wouldn’t ask for a deal granting immunity unless they were guilty of something rather major. [your words, replaced with President #46 in its place.]
We deserve each other I guess.
That the Biden family is crooked doesn’t justify Trump being crooked.
Correct. But his blanket pardon set the precedent that you could do something like that and get away with it.
Trump just took it from criminal to white collar. Now future presidents will be immune from both 🙁
They won’t get away with it. Everyones day of reckoning awaits. And a warner came to them as a warner comes to everyone so they know full well they are doing wrong.
Accurate assessment
Let he who would not pardon his son throw the first stone.
Cry more, piggy. Daddy pig doesn’t love you.
But this wasn’t a pardon. It was a deal with the IRS. The effect was like a pardon but he put pressure on the IRS because he can’t pardon himself. Also it wasn’t Biden, a sitting president, who committed the crimes in that case. In this case it is Trump a sitting president admitting that there might be something fishy with his prior year tax returns. Which in the Democrat days would alone have been grounds for impeachment.
We are all so used to Trump’s corruption that the proper response no longer seems to apply. Clinton got impeached over a blow job. Look at Trump! Rape, consorting with pedophiles, insider trading, influence peddling, selling pardons. This should not be viewed as normal behavior for a sitting president.
Like comparing parking tickets to grand theft auto.
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.
I don’t hear “Epstein” very much – that topic seems to have been relegated to comedians.