All posts tagged "Don Bacon"

A handful of House Republicans are teaming with Democrats to get their colleagues to vow they won't block midterm winners from taking their seats.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) and Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) are seeking signatures on a public letter committing House members to honor the results of the November 3 election, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The push comes as Democrats and Republicans critical of President Donald Trump grow uneasy that the outgoing GOP-led Congress might try to keep Democrats from taking power in January, following months of Trump casting doubt on how some states run their elections.

Signers pledge to oppose "any attempt to refuse or delay the seating of any Member-elect" who arrives with a valid certificate from their state. The pair hope to collect enough names to make the very idea of procedural games by the current House a nonstarter....

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....

As Republicans are pushing back against Trump's attempt to control his dissent in his party, the White House is telling them to stop fighting and accept it.

Politico reported that a senior White House official essentially said Republicans needed to accept Trump's dominance over the GOP and "submit."

"The quicker they understand that President Trump is the ultimate force in politics, the quicker they'll realize it's a futile exercise to go against him," the official told Politico. ...

A conservative lawmaker cautioned that President Donald Trump's political attacks on Republicans who have challenged him could tank GOP candidates in midterm elections this fall.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), who has opted not to seek re-election in 2026 and will retire at the end of his term in 2027, described his thoughts about Sen. Bill Cassidy's (R-LA) loss to a Trump-endorsed challenger in the primary race during a conversation with CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer on Monday.

"The president has a lot of leverage in the primaries," Bacon said. "There's no doubt he did come after me in 2022. I was able to prevail. But for the most part, the president has had a tremendous success in the primaries. The problem is it doesn't translate one for one anyway. In the general election right now, I saw polling today where he's at 37% and the generic polling showing the Democrats are up about 11 points. That is a recipe for a very hard November for my party."...

Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) suggested that President Donald Trump's decisions in the Iran war would have lasting repercussions for the United States.

Bacon, a retired Air Force general, told CNN anchor Jake Tapper that he had spoken with members of the Trump administration about the ongoing military conflict in the Middle East, and that he had expressed his concerns after the president had floated the idea of leaving NATO and called it a "paper tiger" during his press conference on Monday in Washington, D.C.

"And I just want to restate, pulling out of NATO would be a disaster for decades to come," Bacon said. "It would weaken America. America alone is a weaker America. And our European allies are democratic. They reflect our values. We need to work together with Europe on the world's problems. We need their help to deter Russia. We need Japan and Australia to help deter China. And we need allies around us in the Middle East. We can't do it alone."...

MAGA lawmakers have started to unleash their real thoughts on ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, The Daily Beast reported on Friday.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) signaled that she would seek a subpoena through the House Oversight Committee and has called for an investigation into Noem's spending after it was reported that Noem claimed under oath that President Donald Trump had signed off on a $220 million advertising campaign — but Trump said he never had. Mace suggested Noem "will pay repercussions for spending taxpayer funds on her 'personal PR.'”

“I don’t think she walks away from this, and she shouldn’t, because as Republicans, we need to hold our own accountable,” Mace told Newsmax in an interview Friday. ...