Congressional Republicans staged their most sustained revolt yet against President Trump last week, stripping $1 billion in security funding from a reconciliation package, moving toward a resolution to force an end to the Iran war, and abruptly shelving a vote on $72 billion in new immigration enforcement money.

The break came as a New York Times/Siena College poll put Trump’s approval rating at 37 percent, the lowest of his two terms combined. Gas prices hovering near $4.50 a gallon nationally have kept the cost of the Iran war in front of voters.

The funding Republicans stripped included $220 million earmarked for Trump’s new East Wing ballroom. Lawmakers also signaled growing support for a measure that would require the administration to end military operations against Iran without congressional authorization.The flashpoint, according to lawmakers and former administration officials, was the president’s $1.8 billion proposal to compensate allies who say they were targeted by the Biden Justice Department — a fund critics have labeled a “slush fund” because some potential recipients were prosecuted for crimes connected to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

“Republicans have realized they are being scammed and this is the week where they said enough,” a former Trump administration official told MS NOW. “I can’t imagine any Republican ever allowing money to be paid to anyone who harmed law enforcement.”

Lawmakers also cited what they described as erratic governance. One House Republican, speaking anonymously, criticized the president’s “flip-flopping” on Iran negotiations from one Truth Social post to the next and his treatment of Taiwan as a “bargaining chip.”

“He’s pushing it too far,” the lawmaker said. “The list goes on and on.”

A second House Republican said colleagues “feel more confident in criticizing him because the poll numbers aren’t as high as they were,” and added that the party’s “Memorial Day wish” would be to exit the Iran war entirely.

Republicans are increasingly grim about their electoral prospects. “A freaking disaster is coming,” one House Republican told MS NOW. A former Trump administration official put it more bluntly: “If the election were held today, we’d lose the Senate and the House.”

A source close to the White House described the shift as a basic recalculation of political risk. “In many ways I don’t think they fear the president anymore,” the source told MS NOW. “Many have realized you can outlive Trump, politically speaking.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)