Donald Trump is facing several problems during his second term, but the GOP "lack the courage" to call him out, an ex-US attorney has claimed.

Joyce Vance, who served as US attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from 2009 to 2017, says the Republican party must do more to flag the failings of Trump's presidency. Writing in her Substack, Vance claimed the GOP could recognise the failings but were refusing to openly criticise the president on them.

Vance suggested there are enough troubles brewing within the Trump administration to make GOP representatives shift away from associating with the president. She wrote, "Trump is waning. He is a lame duck president with some serious monkeys on his back: the Epstein Files, skyrocketing health care costs, outrage over his violent anti-immigrant tactics exploding among Americans."

"Sure, he has his hardcore 30% base, plus or minus. But his overall approval ratings, although they recovered slightly this week, should be encouraging Republicans to distance themselves, especially when Trump does something as heinous as the comments he made this morning."

The comments made which Vance referred to are a Truth Social post and later press briefing given by Trump on the death of film director Rob Reiner. This, Vance believes, is another opportunity for Republican representatives to distance themselves from the president, though they "lack the courage" to do so.

She wrote, "And still, Republicans lack the courage to call out the leader of their party. We know many of them are thinking it in private. Who says something like that when people are tragically killed? Who suggests the wonderful, loving parents drove a child plagued by addiction and illness crazy?"

"But beyond the president, who has rarely shown any signs of decency, where are the voices of calm and decency in the party that spent decades billing itself as the party of family values? They are few and far between. Only four House members that I can find spoke out, with empathy for the family: Marjorie Taylor Greene, Thomas Massie, Mike Lawler, and Stephanie Bice."

Trump's first statement regarding Reiner's death reads, "A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood. Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS."

"He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness, and with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps like never before. May Rob and Michele rest in peace!"