Sen. Thom Tillis attends a Senate hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., February 5, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
As they departed Capitol Hill for their latest recess, GOP Senators told The Hill that President Donald Trump's bullying tactics with certain lawmakers have left them feeling alienated, and left his agenda in "serious trouble" with the midterms fast approaching.
Trump's insistence on feuding with Republicans who do not fall in line with his demands has surged back into the spotlight recently, after numerous GOP officials saw their reelection bids dashed by primary challengers endorsed by the president. While Trump might be feeling reinvigorated by his grip on the GOP's voting base, some are warning that his antagonism towards lawmakers who remain in Congress until January will cause them to vote against certain parts of his agenda, putting his legislative goals in jeopardy at a time when the party needs to rack up wins.
That is the warning that various sources within the GOP Senate told The Hill, according to a Tuesday morning report, singling out the likes of Sens. Thom Tillis, Bill Cassidy, John Cornyn and Rand Paul as names most likely to serve as roadblocks in the chamber going forward.
"GOP senators say that Trump has no chance of getting taxpayer money to fund construction of the White House ballroom and are warning that he will probably have to abandon or significantly reform his proposal to establish a $1.8 billion 'anti-weaponization' fund if the stalled budget reconciliation package has any chance of passing before the midterm election," The Hill explained.
"The administration is creating issues everywhere by pissing off these senators, it’s really a bad strategy," a senior Republican aide told the outlet.
“People are tired, I think they feel they’re under siege and the White House is very, very difficult to work with and not good to work with, I mean below [the level of the president,]” one anonymous GOP senator told The Hill. “They treat people badly. You can do that for a short period of time but over time it’s corrosive.”
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said during a recent podcast that a recent hearing, which party officials exploded at Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche while he evaded questions about Trump's slush fund, cemented the fact that the president is looking at a rough few months in Congress.
“We have a 53-47 majority, if you lose four senators, you’re below 50 and you can’t get anything done,” Cruz said. "That is going to be a complicating factor for the rest of the year... Those four senators, I don’t envision suddenly anything becoming hunky dory and they’re being happy. Like, that dynamic for 2026, the rest of the year, we’re going to have interesting challenges."
