Donald Trump's refusal to referee his fractured party has created a legislative gridlock that's paralyzing Congress — with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) locked in a standoff that's grinding all major legislation to a halt.
According to Politico, Trump appears far more invested in overseas military adventures and personal brand-building than solving his own party's internal warfare. The president could intervene to settle disputes, but he has kept his distance in most cases, leaving each chamber pushing ahead with competing proposals.
The only issue where Trump has shown real leadership interest — passage of the SAVE America Act — has only made internal divisions worse. Conservative lawmakers and Trump are treating the non-citizen voting ban as a "No. 1 priority," but many Senate Republicans doubt it can survive the chamber's 60-vote filibuster threshold.
House hard-liners are pushing for a workaround, with Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) proposing a "talking filibuster" that would force Democrats to hold the floor continuously to block the bill. The Senate will resume debate next week with no indication of when GOP leaders will hold a likely doomed vote and move on.
Some Republicans, including Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham (R-SC), want to pass parts through reconciliation later this fall. But hard-liners view that as a "nonstarter" because most of the bill violates Senate reconciliation rules.
The biggest firefight: DHS funding. A Senate-passed bill has been stuck in the House for nearly a month. Republicans there rejected the plan to fund ICE through reconciliation — an idea Speaker Johnson previously called "garbage" before flipping to support it.
Now the House is demanding the Senate pass immigration enforcement funding first. The Freedom Caucus has gone further, demanding GOP leaders fund all of DHS through reconciliation.
With a Trump-imposed June 1 deadline looming and the pre-midterm legislative calendar shrinking, GOP leaders are staring down a protracted intraparty war. One GOP senator already called the dysfunction a "circular firing squad."