Good morning and welcome back to The Wolf’s Den. It is Monday, June 22, and both chambers of Congress are back in session. That means Washington is about to get very busy. The House is back. The Senate is back. And with the Fourth of July recess approaching, Republicans are running out of time to move Donald Trump’s agenda before the political gravity of the November elections fully takes over.
What’s clear is this: there are fractures in the Republican coalition that are breaking into the open for the whole world to see ahead of November’s elections.
I will break down everything you need to know about Trump’s growing problems in the Republican held Senate below. But before I continue, please consider becoming a paid subscriber today. Your support allows me to continue fighting back against MAGA without the need of any corporate sponsors or billionaire donors. Everything you read here is 100% written in effort to help ensure a more prosperous and Democratic future. Thank you for your support.
Let’s dive right in. With Congress back in session, you’d expect the biggest story in Washington right now to be what Republicans want to pass before their trifecta of power meets a head in the November midterms. Instead, it is whether Donald Trump can still get his own party to trust him enough to pass it.
That trust is breaking down in public.
Over the last week, Senate Republicans have been openly frustrated with the Trump White House after a series of chaotic moves on national security, intelligence, and election legislation. The most glaring example came when Trump abruptly derailed the confirmation process for Jay Clayton, his own nominee to lead the intelligence community.
Clayton was not some wild-card pick Senate Republicans were preparing to reject. He was someone many Republicans appeared ready to move forward. The Senate Intelligence Committee had a hearing planned. Republicans wanted to avoid a leadership vacuum at the top of the intelligence community following Tulsi Gabbard leaving her post (thank god she did). And then Trump blew it up.
Instead of allowing Clayton’s hearing to proceed, Trump moved to keep Bill Pulte in place as acting director of national intelligence. Pulte is a loyalist with a background in housing policy, not intelligence. That alone raised concerns. But what made it even worse was the timing: all of this unfolded as Congress was also trying to deal with FISA, a major surveillance authority tied to national security.
Then Trump added another demand. He insisted that Republicans pair FISA with the SAVE Act, his controversial voting legislation. That turned an already complicated national security fight into a political hostage situation.
This is the problem with Trump’s governing style. Everything becomes a test of loyalty. Everything becomes a demand. Everything becomes a pressure campaign. Even national security legislation becomes another vehicle for Trump to force Republicans into doing exactly what he wants, exactly when he wants it.
But this time, Senate Republicans are not hiding their frustration.
John Cornyn openly described the collapse of trust between himself and Trump after Trump backed his primary opponent despite Cornyn’s long record of supporting the president’s agenda. Cornyn’s message was blunt: at some point, Republicans realized they could never do enough to satisfy Trump. Loyalty would not protect them. Support would not protect them. Voting with him would not protect them.
That is a remarkable statement from a sitting Republican senator.
Thom Tillis made the political stakes even clearer. He warned that every time the White House surprises Senate Republicans, keeps them in the dark, or ambushes them with sudden announcements, it damages their chances of holding the majority. In other words, Trump is not just creating chaos for Democrats to criticize. He is creating chaos inside his own party.
That matters because Republicans are already facing a difficult election environment. They control the House, the Senate, and the White House right now. They own the results of this government. They own the chaos. They own the dysfunction. They own the rising frustration from voters who were promised strength and competence and instead got instability.
And now, even Republican senators are admitting that Trump’s style of leadership is making their jobs harder.
This is what happens when a political party builds itself around one man instead of a coherent governing agenda. Trump demands loyalty but offers none in return. He expects obedience but gives his own members no warning. He wants Republicans to take political risks for him, but he has shown again and again that he will abandon them the moment it benefits him.
For years, Republicans convinced themselves that fear of Trump was enough to govern. But fear is not trust. Fear is not strategy. Fear is not competence. And fear is not enough to hold a fragile majority together when the country is watching.
This week in Congress will tell us a lot. But one thing is already clear: Donald Trump’s grip on Senate Republicans is no longer producing discipline. It is producing resentment, confusion, and public frustration.
And for Democrats, that is an opening.
-Ethan
