GOP planning 'to blow Trump off' at the dawn of his 'lame duck era': analysis

President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Wednesday, November 5, 2025, en route to Miami, Florida. (Official White House Photo by Molly Riley)

Following what Politico deemed the Republican "party’s worst electoral drubbing in at least six years," GOP senators made it clear they had plans to "blow Trump" off as the president enters the "dawn of his lame duck era."

After President Donald Trump hosted Senate Republicans Wednesday for an election night post-mortem, he demanded they get rid of the filibuster to fix things in "classic Trump dominance theater," Politico writes.

But whereas in the past these performances would successfully muscle "recalcitrant Republicans to confirm controversial nominees," Politico notes, this time was different.

"Upon returning to the Capitol, the senators made it very clear: They planned to blow Trump off," Politico reports. "One GOP senator, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, laughed out loud when asked about the anti-filibuster push."

"Welcome to the dawn of Trump's lame duck era," Politico writes. And while he still remains popular with GOP voters, Tuesday's election blows give Republican lawmakers a bit of an out.

"There are growing signs that lawmakers are contending with the facts of their political lives: He’ll be gone in just over three years, while they’ll still be around," Politico writes.

Despite his lame duck status, Trump still faces precarious political pitfalls in this new era.

"The danger for the president is that if Trump can’t run roughshod over the thin GOP congressional majorities, it would leave him few legislative options given his scant interest in compromising with Democrats," Politico says.

For Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), Trump's push to pulverize the filibuster will backfire on Republican.

“He has zero ability to work across the aisle,” Bacon says. “He needs to face reality and learn how to talk to Democrats he can reason with.”

Some Republicans aren't as overt, privately signaling "they’re prepared to break with Trump if he doesn’t allow Republicans to negotiate on an extension of the Obamacare insurance subsidies Democrats are demanding," Politico reports.

These quiet Republicans are blaming Trump and Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought, for "favoring hardball moves such as canceling blue-state transportation projects and firing federal employees that only served to cause Democrats to dig in further."

One "irate" anonymous senior House Republican blames them for igniting the historic government shutdown through "their unprecedented move to unilaterally rescind congressional funding over the summer through a so-called pocket rescission."

“That decision is why we’re in this mess,” the Republican tells Politico.

Other Republicans agree with Trump's Truth Social declaration that they lost because the president wasn't on the ballot — and note his lame duck status doesn't help that.

“Trump drives turnout, and if he’s not on the ballot, the turnout is way down,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) says.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) agrees, saying voter drop off in non-Trump years is “an issue for Republicans.”

James Blair, a deputy White House chief of staff disagrees and thinks that lame duck or not, it's all one big, happy MAGA family with or without Trump.

“The president, you know, sort of has his way of communicating, but the senators have their way, and it’s a family at the end of the day," Blair says. "And I think the president’s view is, it’s not breaking.”

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