congress

Republicans are realizing 'Trump-worship' is a losing strategy: Fox News analyst

Republican analyst Juan Williams is arguing that Republicans are retiring from Congress at historic levels because President Donald Trump is increasingly unpopular.

“You’d quit, too,” Williams wrote in his recent editorial for The Hill. Breaking down the logic of the many Republican legislators with whom he has spoken, Williams described it as dozens of them independently picking “Option One” from the list: “Option One: They can quit. Option Two: They can keep silent on alarming polls showing low public approval for Trump and his Republican Party as the midterms approach. Option Three: Accept that there is a price to be paid for Trump-worship.”

Williams added that while “blindly jumping on the Trump bandwagon” helped Republicans win the presidential and legislative elections in 2024, “now the cost of their idolatry is piling up for Republicans remaining in Washington as Trump begins his final days.”

As one example, Williams noted that Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), decided not to run for reelection. Nehls said that “if Donald Trump says, ‘jump three feet high and scratch your head,’ we all jump three feet high and scratch our head” after Trump won the 2024 election.

Williams also quoted Marjorie Taylor Greene, who resigned from her Georgia US House seat earlier this year, saying that by remaining in office she would “be expected to defend the president against impeachment after he hatefully dumped tens of millions of dollars against me and tried to destroy me,” a scenario Greene described as “absurd and completely unserious.”

“Greene’s forecast of bad weather for House Republicans who stay around for Trump’s remaining time in office now looks spot on,” Williams added. “Last week, six House Republicans voted against Trump on tariffs. He immediately took to social media to attack and threaten them.”

Overall 51 House members and 12 senators have so far decided not to run for reelection, on track for the most departures from Congress this century. That group of 63 retirees includes 36 Republicans. Currently, Fox polls show 61 percent disapproval of Trump’s performance on the economy, 62 percent disapproval of his performance on health care costs and 64 percent disapproval of his performance on inflation and tariffs. The voters most motivated to vote prefer Democrats at a rate of 52 percent, “the highest recorded for either party. In 2017, the last time it was even close (50 percent), House Republicans lost their majority later in that cycle.”

Williams has previously sounded the alarm to fellow Republicans about Democrats’ chances in the 2026 midterm elections.

"Epstein remains a problem for Republicans as Congress returns,” Williams wrote in September. “But there are fires everywhere. And should Democrats take control in 2026, a third Trump impeachment will be on the table.”

Williams has also harshly criticized Republicans like the former Senate Majority Leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), for trying to distance themselves from the mess they helped to create with the current president.

"The bad news for McConnell is that despite his decades towering over Washington as a top GOP leader, he is now eclipsed by President Trump's takeover of his party," Williams wrote. "Trump has called McConnell 'a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack' and warned that Republicans would lose if they remained aligned with him. And Trump issued a racially pointed insult to McConnell's wife. McConnell didn’t fire back."

Adding that McConnell voted to acquit Trump after his coup attempt on January 6, 2021, Williams concluded that his attempts to “regain some dignity by defying Trump with votes against Trump's nominations of Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services secretary” are "too little too late."

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Republicans in Congress quietly voted for backdoor effort to tie Trump's hands

President Donald Trump will now have more difficulty withholding money for federal programs appropriated by Congress, thanks to lawmakers from both parties.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that in the government funding package Congress passed last week (which Trump later signed into law) includes language meant to hamstring Trump's attempts to carry out "pocket rescissions," in which he freezes money meant to be disbursed. Language restricting Trump's use of pocket rescissions made its way into all 11 spending bills the president signed, which will last through September 30 of this year.

According to the Times, Republicans in the Senate were more open to restricting executive action withholding spending than their House counterparts. And some more stringent provisions attempting to rein in Trump didn't get enough votes to make it into the final legislation.

Still, the outlet reported that the language "reflects bipartisan frustration with how the White House has attempted to wrest away Congress’s spending powers." And lawmakers aim to use those bills as ammunition in potential legal battles with the Trump administration should the president attempt to withhold Congressionally appropriated money in the future.

"This marks an important milestone and shows that Congress can work together in a bipartisan manner to carry out our Article I responsibilities and deliver results for the people we are honored to represent," said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who is the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The Trump administration maintains that despite the language in the bills, the White House never agreed to sign anything that would limit its power over spending in any way. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) communications director Rachel Cauley told the Times: "None of our executive authorities to control spending were compromised by these appropriations bills, which was a red line in our discussions with the Hill."

The Trump administration's pattern of routinely withholding money already appropriated by Congress is a violation of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, which Congress passed to assert its authority (under Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution) during former President Richard Nixon's administration. OMB Director Russ Vought insists that law is illegal.

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'Breathtaking': Conservative details 'legal landmines' Republicans ignored to boost Trump

President Donald Trump is exploiting a massive loophole to unilaterally make significant policy decisions with no input from Congress. Now, one conservative is calling on Congress to close that loophole.

In posts to his X account on Monday, economist Scott Lincicome — who is the vice president of general economics at the conservative Cato Institute – pointed out that presidents have "over 130 standby statutory powers" that can be invoked "in a self‐declared national emergency" with the stroke of a pen. Lincicome linked to a 2024 U.S. Senate testimony from Cato's Gene Healy (who is the organization's former vice president of policy) entitled "Restoring Congressional Oversight over Emergency Powers," in which Healy warned senators of the "truly breathtaking" scope of presidents' emergency powers.

One key point of Healy's testimony focused on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA), which Trump has cited as the legal basis to unilaterally impose tariffs on virtually all of the United States' trading partners. Healy told the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government that the IEEPA "represents one of the broadest delegations of power — and thus, one of the broadest potential sources of presidential mischief."

"IEEPA gives the president an imposing array of unilateral powers to deploy against 'any unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States,'" Healy said. "Once triggered, the executive branch enjoys sweeping authority to block transactions, freeze assets and seize property."

Lincicome highlighted Healy's testimony to argue that many of Trump's controversial decisions could have been prevented had Congress taken action to rein in presidential emergency powers.

"One of the most frustrating parts of the Trump 2.0 era is that we KNEW about these legal landmines years ago, we WARNED about the potential for abuse (and resulting harms), and Congress/POTUS — regardless of the party in charge — did NOTHING," he wrote on X.

One potential fix Healy highlighted in his 2024 testimony was legislation written by former Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), that would have established law that the IEEPA "does not include the authority to impose duties or tariff-rate quotas or… other quotas on articles entering the United States." However, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is expected to issue a ruling in its current term on whether to uphold or reverse a decision by lower courts that Trump does not have the authority to levy tariffs under the IEEPA. Should SCOTUS uphold the prior rulings, it would strike down a bulk of Trump's tariffs on imported goods.

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George Conway reveals 2 things that need to happen to 'save the republic' from Trump

On Tuesday, conservative attorney George Conway officially announced his campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives, and kicked off his campaign by highlighting President Donald Trump's false claims about the January 6 insurrection.

"These are the lies of a criminal. The message I'm sending is that the president of the United States is a criminal," Conway told CNN host Anderson Cooper on Tuesday. "He's not just a convicted criminal. He should have been convicted for the crimes that he led on January 6th."

Conway maintained that Trump is "running the United States government like a mob operation," and that the U.S. government is now "of the boss, by the boss and for the boss." He added that both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have so far failed to properly hold the perpetrators of the insurrection accountable.

"They are spineless, shameless people who have abdicated their constitutional responsibility when they take the oath of office," he said. "They have, as members of Congress, as members of the House and members of the Senate, they have the obligation to remove a criminal president, and they had the obligation in 2021 to make sure that the criminal president, who had just left office, could never take office again, and they abdicated that responsibility."

Conway — who is running to fill the Manhattan-area seat being vacated by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) — said that while he has not previously been interested in running for office, he wanted to "go toe-to-toe" with Trump and pass legislation aimed at both bringing accountability for the Trump administration and preventing someone like him from rising to power again. He then proposed two reforms he aimed to accomplish if elected.

"Two things have to happen in order for us to save the republic from him," Conway said. "First of all, accountability. Investigating and impeaching the president and his other other executive officials who are committing high crimes and misdemeanors every day as we speak. And the second is to pass laws, legislation — carefully drafted legislation within the four corners of the Constitution — that will make sure we never have this autocratic, kleptocratic authoritarian threat ever again."

"It's a lot, but this is what we have to do because our survival as a republic depends on it," he added.

Watch Conway's segment below:

- YouTube www.youtube.com

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Republicans rebel against Trump's attempts to put his name on Kennedy Center

President Donald Trump's attempt to add his name to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is not yet complete, as it requires an act of Congress for the name change to become official. Trump may have to wait a little longer, according to legislation to fund the federal agency that oversees the facility.

On Monday, House Appropriations Committee chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) announced the release of finalized legislation to fund various government agencies through Fiscal Year 2026. The bills fund the Departments of Commerce, Interior, and Justice, and also agencies overseeing federal investments in science, energy and water development.

A provision in the Appropriations Committee's legislation to fund the Interior Department specifically refers to the "John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts," and New York Sun correspondent Matt Rice observed on X that Trump's name is conspicuously absent from that section. The bill allocates $32.34 million "for necessary expenses for the operation, maintenance and security of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts" through September of 2027.

"Congressional Republicans decline to officially change the name of the Kennedy Center in the Interior appropriations bill," Rice wrote.

The Appropriations Committee's legislation has been through the conference process, meaning lawmakers from both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees have contributed to the three-bill package. All that remains is for the House and Senate to vote on whether to send the package to Trump's desk.

Early last year, Trump named himself chairman of the Kennedy Center and replaced the institution's board with a hand-picked cadre of political loyalists. That board voted last month to change the name to put Trump's first, though the name change was criticized as "illegal" as Congress has to officially vote on the name change. Should the Interior Department funding bill become law, it would mean that Congress has officially refused to recognize Trump's attempted name change throughout the remainder of the 2026 fiscal year.

If that legislation doesn't pass and become law by January 30, it could risk another government shutdown. Last year's 43-day shutdown ended with a temporary détente between Democrats and Republicans that kept government agencies funded at existing levels through the end of this month.

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'We could push him': Republican calls on his colleagues to stop being 'a bunch of lackeys'

One member of the House Republican Conference is hoping his GOP colleagues will stop ceding their constitutional powers to President Donald Trump.

The New York Times' Carl Hulse reported Friday that as Trump prepares to enter year two of his second term later this month, some lawmakers are calling for Congress to re-assert its Article I powers as a co-equal branch of government. This includes Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who told the Times that he hoped Republicans in 2026 would stop being a rubber stamp for the term-limited commander-in-chief.

"The president would be better off if the Republican House pushed back more," said Bacon, who is not running for another term in November. "I think his tariff policy would be better. I think it would be better on Ukraine. I think we could push him in a much better direction if he was open to it."

"But if you feel like you have a bunch of lackeys that are going to do whatever you say, then he doesn’t feel constrained," he added.

Hulse observed that during Trump's first year back in office, he "mostly ignored the legislative branch on matters great and small." This even included federal spending, with Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought carrying out an agenda of aggressively "impounding" federal money already appropriated by Congress by refusing to allow that money to be disbursed. Trump has also bypassed Congress in matters of war, with his Department of Defense carrying out strikes in the Caribbean Sea and even off the Venezuelan coast without first seeking Congressional approval.

"With this Republican majority in the Senate, Donald Trump has basically walked all over Congress," Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) told the Times. He noted that Republicans would likely revolt if a future Democratic president chose to minimize Congress' role in a manner similar to Trump.

"It is absolutely outrageous, and the Senate Republicans know it is outrageous too,” Bennet said. “The question for them is whether or not they will come to the view that if we end up rolling over for this kind of stuff, it is going to happen as one administration changes to the next.”

Click here to read the Times' full report (subscription required).

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'What am I doing this for?' More Republicans quitting Congress over 'toxic environment'

2025 has seen a near-record number of retirements in the U.S. House of Representatives – particularly from Republican members. Many lawmakers are becoming increasingly frustrated by Congress' inability to pass laws.

CNN reported Thursday that numerous members of the 119th Congress have decided to leave the House and instead run for governor in their respective states. 10 House Republicans from states like Arizona, Florida, South Carolina, Wisconsin and others are all launching gubernatorial campaigns. And some legislators are simply fed up with Washington. This includes even high-ranking members like Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), who has chaired both the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Homeland Security Committee.

"The level of partisanship, rancor, vitriolic debate, demonizing the other side of the aisle, not willing to work across the aisle to get good things done for the American people, and just the overall toxic environment," McCaul told CNN when asked why he was retiring after more than two decades in the House. "And then we are chained to the floor here on votes that will never become law in a lot of cases."

One unnamed Republican anonymously confided to CNN that the day-to-day dysfunction prevalent on Capitol Hill was a key contributor to the recent wave of retirements.

"It’s historic to be there. It’s an amazing honor. But boy, they suck a lot of the life out of you sometimes," the Republican said. "For some people, it’s like, what am I doing this for?"

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) acknowledged Republicans' frustrations to CNN, but blamed the current political morass on the GOP's paper-thin majority. He maintained that he was "very, very bullish about the midterms" despite the incumbent president's party typically suffering significant losses during midterm elections.

"These are not easy times. There are a lot of challenges for the country. And we’re doing it in an environment, where you have one of the smallest margins possible, smallest margins in history," Johnson said. "And so, it creates frictions sometimes, and everybody has different ideas, and as I say every day, I’m in the consensus building business."

Click here to read CNN's report in full (subscription required).

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MTG retires from Congress and predicts 'Republicans will likely lose the midterms'

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has announced she will not seek another term in the U.S. House of Representatives, just a week after President Donald Trump un-endorsed her.

In a lengthy statement posted to her X account, Greene lamented that the "Political Industrial Complex of both Political Parties" that encourages Americans to "hate the other side" has made it so "nothing ever gets better for the common American man or woman." She also maintained that while she remains a stalwart Trump supporter and a member of the MAGA movement, Republican leadership "sidelined" the House and refuses to address the looming crisis of expiring Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits. Greene has been consistently criticizing Republicans for their failure to extend the ACA credits, saying her adult children being notified that their monthly premiums will be doubling in 2026.

The Georgia Republican mostly toed the line between criticizing House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and GOP leaders while praising Trump and maintaining her commitment to far-right causes. However, her retirement announcement contains elements of bitterness directed at the president, who called her a "ranting lunatic" in a Truth Social post last week.

"I have too much self respect and dignity, love my family way too much, and do not want my sweet district to have to endure a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the President we all fought for, only to fight and win my election while Republicans will likely lose the midterms," she wrote. "And in turn, be expected to defend the President against impeachment after he hatefully dumped tens of millions of dollars against me and tried to destroy me."

"It's all so absurd and completely unserious," she continued. "I refuse to be a 'battered wife' hoping it all goes away and gets better."

Greene also wrote in her announcement that she only disagreed with Trump on H-1B visas for foreign workers, deregulation of artificial intelligence, his call for 50-year mortgages (which Greene called "scams"), "all involvement in foreign wars" and releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files. The Georgia congresswoman also appeared to reference Trump when writing: "Loyalty should be a two-way street."

"[M]y true convictions remain unchanged because my self-worth is not defined by a man, but instead by God who created everything in existence," she wrote.

Click here to read Greene's full announcement.

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Trump impersonator running for Congress blasts 'cruel absurdity' of White House

Comedian J-L Cauvin isn't joking around about his new endeavor: running for Congress.

The Donald Trump impersonator announced his candidacy on Friday, though this time his video didn't show him in his MAGA hat or using his "Trump voice." He'll be running for the open U.S. House seat in New Jersey's 11th Congressional District, vacated by New Jersey Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill (D) who held the seat since she was elected in 2018.

“I built a national audience during Trump’s first term, shining a satirical light on the cruel absurdity of the Trump administration when a lot of people felt powerless and scared,” Cauvin said in the launch video, the New Jersey Globe reported. “That community is strong, it’s nationwide, and it knows that this special election is about more than just this district. It’s about the message we send, about the fight that’s ahead of us.”

Behind the chants of "fake news" and mockery, Cauvin is a Georgetown Law graduate and worked as an assistant district attorney in the Bronx before going into private practice in New Jersey. He now works as a legal advocate for those facing eviction from their homes, the Globe wrote.

“I see every day what happens when the government stops fighting for regular people,” Cauvin said. “I see the stress, the fear, the helplessness – but I also see the hope when people see someone fighting for them. That’s why I’m running.”

Even during the lead-up to his announcement, Cauvin has continued his Trump videos, with one that mocks the president over the investigation files for convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. The video shows Cauvin's Trump claiming he's always wanted to release the files and came out so early in support of it he was still at Epstein's house.

The special election to fill the 11th District will be in April 2026.

Watch Cauvin's announcement video and his Trump impression below:

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'I want to fight these mothers': George Conway promises to hound Trump admin if elected

Conservative attorney George Conway is reportedly close to officially announcing his intent to run for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2026, and is promising to be a major thorn in President Donald Trump's side if elected.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that Conway – the former spouse of longtime senior Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway — recently met with Democratic activists and hired prominent Democratic pollster Anna Greenberg as he entertains the idea of running for the seat vacated by Rep. Jerrold Nadler. (D-N.Y) He is also reportedly looking for an apartment within the Manhattan-area district to meet residency requirements, as he currently lives in the Washington D.C. suburb of Bethesda, Maryland (and is a neighbor of former National Security Advisor John Bolton).

During an event organized by liberal group Democracy Docket, Conway promised that he would use his time in elected office to hold Trump administration officials legally accountable — particularly those within the Department of Justice (DOJ). The longtime Trump critic noted that despite his past, he would run as a Democrat.

"This is crazy, but the crazy thing about it is it’s not so crazy," Conway told Democracy Docket members.

“We need to do things to make sure there is accountability. We need to undo the damage that he has done to the Justice Department," he said. "And then we have to create new safeguards that are going to make the Watergate safeguards look like child’s play.”

If Conway ran for Nadler's seat, he would have to survive a crowded Democratic primary. Progressive activist Cameron Kasky (a survivor of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida) is running, along with Jack Schlossberg, who is the grandson of former President John F. Kennedy. According to the Times, Conway said Democrats needed more candidates "who don't have any more effs to give."

"I want to fight these mothers," Conway said.

Click here to read the Times' article in full (subscription required).

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Congressman Conway? Top Trump critic reportedly eyeing House bid

George Conway, the prominent attorney, Trump critic, and ex-husband of former Trump White House senior counselor Kellyanne Conway, may be considering a run for Congress.

According to a report at CNN and a post by New York Times congressional correspondent Annie Karni, Conway is eyeing a run for retiring Democratic U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler’s New York district.

CNN reported that Conway, 62, is “actively considering running for Congress from New York City, a source familiar with the matter tells CNN.”

Karni reported, “the Conway pitch being — what the House will need next year is an aggressive lawyer with an investigative background just going after Trump.”

Conway is a former Republican who became an independent in 2018. He has a law degree from Yale, and successfully argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, obtaining a unanimous ruling. He is a co-founder of The Lincoln Project and currently co-hosts a podcast at The Bulwark.

Should Democrats retake the majority in the House of Representatives, it’s likely there will be numerous investigations into President Donald Trump and his administration — not to mention possible efforts to impeach the unpopular and controversial Commander in Chief.

Conway would have good company in a primary.

“Jack Schlossberg, former President John F. Kennedy’s grandson, entered the race this week,” CNN noted.

The Daily Beast adds that “much of the buzz around Conway stems from his personal life. While he and his 58-year-old ex-wife, Kellyanne, tried to make their marriage work amid his dramatic political realignment, the couple frequently made headlines. As Kellyanne served as senior counselor to Trump from 2017 to 2020, her husband routinely sounded off on her boss and advisers—including Stephen Miller, whom Kellyanne referred to as one of her ‘best friends’ in the current administration earlier this month.”

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