Starting to Crack

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:07]May 21st, 2026.

[00:00:10]Congress left for the holiday weekend a day early today after a number of Republican members of Congress appear to have mutinied against President Donald J. Trump and his loyalists.

[00:00:22]Trump's 1.776 billion dollar slush fund and his agreement with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche that would not prosecute him or any of his associates for crimes related to tax laws apparently were a bridge too far for a number of Republicans, especially as his job approval rating has fallen to a grim 34%.

[00:00:47]Republican senators met for nearly 2 hours today with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in a meeting that Andrew Desiderio of Punchbowl News reported was incredibly hostile.

[00:01:01]Republicans were angry that they had no advanced warning about the plan, questioned the legal basis for the fund, were unhappy with Blanche's descriptions of how payments would work, and said they wanted no part of it.

[00:01:16]As former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican of Kentucky, put it, "So the nation's top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops?

[00:01:29]Utterly stupid, morally wrong. Take your pick."

[00:01:35]As many as 25 Republican senators spoke out against the slush fund and pitched ideas about how to draw some limits around it.

[00:01:43]Scott McFarland of Midas News reported that senators want to know, "What is Trump trying to mask by offering up this controversial fund?

[00:01:53]I mean, the optics of this are terrible.

[00:01:56]This looks bad. So is it a diversion technique? Is it some way of masking a different issue altogether?

[00:02:04]Dan Alexander of Forbes reported today that the tax immunity Todd Blanche is extending to Trump could save him more than $600 on the estimated $1.4 billion he made in 2025 from crypto and licensing ventures and on the $100 million hanging over him from a previous tax bill.

[00:02:28]Michael Gold and Carl Hulse of The New York Times reported that Republican frustration with the White House has been exacerbated by anger that Trump has intervened in Republican primaries to sync Republican incumbents he thinks have been insufficiently loyal to him.

[00:02:46]One Republican senator texted Desiderio to say, "Our majority is melting down before our eyes."

[00:02:55]In the end, Republicans were so angry about the slush fund and immunity agreement that Senate leadership decided not to try to pass $72 billion of funding for immigration agencies left out of an earlier funding package out of fear Democrats would force Republicans to vote on the slush fund.

[00:03:16]Even before they decided to avoid the vote, Republicans had dropped from the measure the $1 billion Trump wants for security for his ballroom.

[00:03:27]House Republicans had their own meltdown.

[00:03:30]House Republican leaders pulled a vote to stop Trump's war on Iran based on the War Powers Act recognizing that they did not have the votes to defeat it.

[00:03:41]Representative Brian Fitzpatrick, a Republican of Pennsylvania, who voted with Democrats to pass such a measure last week, told Megan Miner, Robert Jimison, and Michael Gold of the New York Times that the next time the measure comes to a vote, it will pass.

[00:04:00]As members head home to observe Memorial Day, the solemn remembrance of those Americans who gave their lives to defend the nation, they will likely hear an earful from their constituents about the $1.7 billion slush fund, the promise of immunity over Trump's tax crimes, the $1 billion Trump is demanding for his ballroom, Trump's unpopular war on Iran, and now the administration's increasing threats against Cuba and Greenland, and about dramatically increasing prices.

[00:04:36]On Tuesday, four Republicans joined Democrats to advance a resolution against the Iran war in the Senate.

[00:04:46]Vote by vote, Democrats are breaking through Republicans' wall of silence on Trump's illegal war. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat of New York, said, "Today proved our pressure is working.

[00:05:02]Republicans are starting to crack, and momentum is building to check him.

[00:05:07]We are not letting up."

[00:05:15]Letters from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson. [music] It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dedham, Massachusetts.

[00:05:24]Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.