More Republicans are sharing their disgust with President Donald Trump's divisive public comments, and some are suggesting it's making it harder for them to do their jobs.
In a Tuesday article for Semafor, reporters Burgess Everett, Eleanor Mueller and Shelby Talcott reported that there is growing discontent on Capitol Hill after Trump's insult of the late actor-director Rob Reiner and Tuesday's Vanity Fair interview with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who said the president had an "alcoholic's personality." Republicans are reportedly worried that time is running out for them to enact their agenda as the midterm campaign season approaches, which is expected to consume the bulk of their time as opposed to passing legislation.
"There’s only so much any human being can handle at one time. And when the president says some of the stuff that he says, it’s time-consuming. And it distracts from his work and his agenda, and it distracts from our work," Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-LA) told Semafor. "We need his input right now on a lot of things."
Trump's policies themselves are also frustrating Republicans. One unnamed House Republican staffer likened the president's sweeping tariffs on the United States' trade partners to "chaos" that was "killing investment."
"The president could stop it tomorrow; everyone is begging him to," the staffer said anonymously. "But he won't."
Congress is rapidly running out of time to iron out an extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits due to expire at the end of 2025, which is expected to cause millions of Americans' monthly health insurance premiums to jump by potentially hundreds of percentage points at the start of the new year. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) told Semafor that Republicans would be "stupid" to not use their majorities to tackle healthcare costs ahead of an election year.
"You have the short-term issue of the extension expiring, which will cause premiums to go up, and the longer-term issue of health care affordability," Lawler said. "You have to deal with both on a dual track — and the failure to do so is stupid."