Amid Gop Grumbling, White House Makes Course Corrections

After almost a year of near-complete dominance over his party, President Donald Trump has responded to growing ripples of resistance with his usual angry outbursts — at long-time ally Marjorie Taylor Greene, Indiana Republicans and “very bad or stupid” congressional Republicans.

But behind the scenes, White House officials and congressional leaders are quietly collaborating on course corrections large and small, aware that their political fates are irrevocably tied to one another and that, for all their successes so far, some changes may be necessary.

Unable to pressure Greene and other Republicans intent on voting to release the Epstein files, Trump reversed himself last week after months of opposition. He has eased off his demands that the GOP-controlled Congress do away with the filibuster, recognizing that the senators who immediately ruled out such a move were “very smart people” worth listening to. And the White House is “aggressively promoting policies on the affordability issue,” according to a GOP donor granted anonymity to describe private conversations.

These slight changes in course come even as Trump insists that the focus on "affordability" is a con job, perpetrated by Democrats, and strains to stay focused on the cost of living, such as touting his electoral prowess at an affordability event with McDonald’s.

Two senior White House officials, both granted anonymity to speak candidly about the president’s thinking, scoffed at the idea that any growing resistance from Republicans to various policy positions was a sign of the president entering a lame-duck phase or losing something on his fastball. Trump and Republicans, they both said, understand that they need each other to advance the agenda they broadly share.

“I don't think the president will ever feel like a lame duck,” the first senior White House official said. “He is emboldened, he knows he's the leader of the Republican Party, he knows Republicans need him to boost turnout in the midterm elections and he will do everything he can to help them along the way."

While disagreements have spilled further into public view in recent weeks — Hill Republicans have also taken issue with Trump proposals like 50-year mortgages, $2,000 stimulus checks drawn from tariff revenue and pressuring Ukraine to accept a Russian-dictated peace proposal — the White House and GOP leaders on the Hill hold calls every week to strategize on policy and messaging.

The conversations, the second official said, are “very open and frank” but emblematic of what the White House sees as an effective working relationship with lawmakers who need little reminder of the political power the president can wield.

“Republicans, especially those who have gone through this Trump era — they know that,” the second official continued. “Yeah, there's some bumps here and there, but at the end of the day, the president becomes the leader of the party, and he holds an extreme amount of influence.”

The fissures could only deepen in the coming weeks as the White House and Congress confront the year-end expiration of the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, which threaten to drive up insurance costs, and another government funding cliff at the end of January.

Trump, the senior White House officials acknowledged, has heard from allies in private conversations about polling showing the unpopularity of certain actions, from the ICE roundups in several cities to his demolishing of the White House’s East Wing — and about data showing that voters are souring on the economy. Although most Republicans remain loath to publicly squabble with the president, some are increasingly willing to push back as the election draws closer.

“The closer you get to the election cycle, the more cognizant you are about how certain policy decisions are at odds with your constituency,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said Thursday.

Tillis, who is not seeking reelection, has been critical of the administration’s proposal to use tariff revenue to send Americans’ stimulus checks, a move, he’s argued, that would exacerbate inflation and run counter to the president’s original plan of using the additional dollars to pay down the national debt.

And several Republicans, including Trump’s close ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and prominent and typically supportive allies like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich have voiced concerns about the president’s 28-point plan to end the war in Ukraine, warning that allowing Russia to dictate the terms of a peace deal, drawn up without input from NATO allies or Ukraine, is a mistake.

Graham, in a post on X, said he had “no knowledge” of a new proposal but warned that a just outcome to the war “can only be achieved with negotiations involving both parties - particularly Ukraine, the victim of Russia’s aggression - along with our European allies.”

Former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, certainly no close ally of the president, went further: “Putin has spent the entire year trying to play President Trump for a fool,” he said. “Rewarding Russian butchery would be disastrous to America’s interests. And a capitulation like Biden’s abandonment of Afghanistan would be catastrophic to a legacy of peace through strength.”

The simmering intra-party disagreements were notable enough that Vice President JD Vance was asked to weigh in Thursday during a live interview with Breitbart’s Matthew Boyle.

“We have to remember that we have a lot more in common than we do not in common,” Vance said. “The disagreements that animate the Republican Party, while they matter and are important ... My attitude is, let these debates play out, but don't let the debates that you're — that we're having internally blind us to the fact that we are up against a radical leftist movement.”

Still, Vance made a noticeable outreach to people who feel as though cost of living is unaffordable — and voted for Democrats in this month’s off-year elections because of it.

"Look, we get it and we hear you and we know there's a lot of work to do,” he said, before casting blame on his and Trump’s predecessors. “There's a lot with the job because the Biden administration put us in such a very very tough spot."

Trump, said former longtime GOP House aide Brendan Buck, “is still the dominant figure in the party, and the person who every single one of them needs if they want to advance any type of legislative agenda, win a primary, or have a long term future in the party. I don't think anybody is going to be running away from him at all.”

Greene underscored that point on Friday when she announced her resignation from the House. After splitting with Trump on the release of the Epstein files, the president severed ties with Greene a week ago.

That’s not to say, of course, that some Republicans don’t harbor concerns about how the president’s policies could impact their electoral fortunes.

“At some point, the longer the economy is a weight on [Trump], the aura of invincibility could dim a little bit,” said Buck. “You have to really have your head in the sand to not be worried about the midterms at this point. Everybody understands the historical trend, the economic environment, the energy on the Democratic side, and the ballot without Trump on it are all deeply in Democrats’ favor — and their hopes largely rest on Donald Trump's popularity. So in that way, they have every incentive to try to help him.”

An issue looming large for Republicans is how to handle the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, while Trump has thrown out the idea of an alternative in the form of giving cash directly to consumers to pay for their health care coverage.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) , who has warned against letting the subsidies expire, predicted the president won’t sit back on an issue like health care despite his move to follow the party on the Epstein bill.

“I just have a hard time thinking that he'll sit back and see what Congress does,” he said. “I don't think Congress will do anything, be able to get to any consensus, without him directing it.”

Despite the recent public opposition within the party, Trump’s allies still brush off the idea of tensions that stand to threaten Trump’s strength.

“He had one bad week of different things and all of a sudden, it’s a lame duck,” said a person close to the White House, granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic. “When you’re so used to Aaron Judge going up to the plate and he strikes out, people say, is he not going to be the MVP anymore? Trump can strike out once or twice, but he’s still batting a thousand.”