A GOP congressman had a blunt assessment of why Trump's party will start pushing back against him more, especially on two major asks from the president.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), who will retire next year, admitted during a Thursday appearance on CNN that Trump's $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund "looks bad," considering "you have the president negotiating with himself and how much taxpayer money should be given out."
Trump's fund was created through a settlement for a lawsuit he filed against the IRS, which he oversees as president. Critics of the fund worry that it will fund Trump's allies and Jan. 6 rioters.
Bacon said, "There's also a lot of pushback on the ballroom" that Trump wants for the White House. Trump is also pushing for $1 billion in security funding for the ballroom.
According to Bacon, Republicans are pushing back on Trump's fund and ballroom in response to him endorsing the primary opponents of established party members in Congress.
"What's happened here are the consequences of going against Sen. Cassidy," referring to Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who lost his primary to a Trump-backed candidate.
Bacon also pointed to Trump's endorsement of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who's running against Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in the upcoming primaries. Sen. Cornyn is "more likely" to start pushing back against Trump now, he said.
"Sen. Cornyn, I think that that hurts the president on these issues," Bacon explained. "A lot of senators and congressmen in my shoes see people who are respected and who've tried to be honest and good senators or congressmen, then getting targeted, I think that hurts them."