Semafor and Punchbowl both have items today reporting that the Senate is about to buck President Trump on both his ballroom and his deserving fascists slush fund (DFSF). They want to cut funding for the ballroom and at least greatly restrict the DFSF. You can see the details here. As the authors point out, there’s the standard pattern that the senators willing to speak freely are the ones who’s severed heads are already on pikes: Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Thom Tillis (R-NC), perhaps John Cornyn (R-TX) in the near future. But the silent ones, according to these reports, are going to vote the same way. Or at least enough of them.
Now, one way to look at this is well, they’re never stand up to him! It’ll never happen. But in this case, well … great? No one is doing anything here on principle. They’re trying to protect their vulnerable members from having to run with ads saying how they voted for Trump’s fortress ballroom and his cash bonus plan for guys who bludgeoned cops with flag polls. You may think “nothing matters.” But it does matter, and they know it. So if Trump forces the Senate to vote for these things, that would be bad on the merits, but politically, the joke is on the senators who have to run on that.
