Senate Majority Leader John Thune pushes his glasses up as he speaks to reporters outside his office on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., October 14, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
Republicans are desperate to present an economic agenda for midterm voters who are concerned about affordability, but now President Donald Trump has thrown another wrench into the works, leading one reporter to offer their "Congratulations" to the GOP and its new mess.
Trump's "anti-weaponization" slush fund and the audit immunity clause in the settlement that his Justice Department set up for his IRS lawsuit have created a firestorm of controversy, with even many Republicans demanding that he walk back from the idea. His nomination for Attorney General, Todd Blanche, has also seen his confirmation derailed by his unwillingness to commit to killing these provisions in writing.
In a Saturday post to Truth Social, Trump called out Republicans for their opposition to his slush fund, namely Sens. Thom Tillis and John Cornyn, and threatened to get the fund codified into law if Blanche is not able to get enough support for his confirmation.
"If Senators Cornyn and Tillis, both upset because I wouldn’t Endorse them (they lost, and quit, respectively!), aren’t going to approve Todd Blanche, one of the most respected professionals, according to everybody, in the Country, to be the United States Attorney General, then I will keep Todd as Acting A.G., and push hard to get the Anti-Weaponization Bill, which takes care of those who have been so badly treated by the Crooked Joe Biden (and Obuma!) Administration (I get nothing, although I was treated horribly!), PASSED,” Trump's post read. “Todd Blanche was a voice of reason! It will immediately be back on the table, and I will get it done.”
Reactions to this move by Trump spread quickly on social media, with various observers and commentators suggesting that the demand was further imperiling the GOP's ability to kill the wildly unpopular slush fund ahead of the midterms.
"President Trump’s insistence that his anti-weaponization fund is not only not going away, but now he wants LEGISLATION to codify it, is exactly why Senators Cornyn and Tillis wouldn’t take Todd Blanche’s word for it," NBC News reporter Julie Tsirkin wrote in a post to X.
Responding to Tsirkin's post, Bloomberg reporter Steven Dennis suggested Trump's real motive in pushing for the settlement harder.
"Trump doesn’t have the votes for this. Republican senators have already voted against the fund, and even more against paying rioters who beat police officers who Trump pardoned," Dennis explained. "The bigger issue in the talks has been Trump’s tax immunity deal signed by Blanche, which Cornyn is insisting on narrowing. And that deal is absolutely 'something' that Trump is getting from his administration."
"Congratulations to congressional Republicans," CNN's Aaron Blake wrote in his own post to X.
Even Sen. Tillis reacted to the story with a post to his official X account.
"Despite comments as late as yesterday that the fund is dead, President Trump clearly intends to resurrect the payout pot for punks either by inappropriately establishing another bogus fund or pushing Congress to vote for a bill that the majority of Republicans in the Senate would be against," the post read. "It’s unfortunate that Todd Blanche, who I consider qualified for the job, will not be confirmed because of this reversal. Hopefully, we can resolve this by Tuesday."