Senate Republicans have greeted President Donald Trump’s decision to name Bill Pulte to serve as acting director of National Intelligence with either ignorance or opposition.
Pulte’s name was a shock. Aside from the fact that he lacks any real qualifications, there’s also the fact that for the past year, Pulte has used his perch to go after Trump’s perceived enemies, such as Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Lisa Cook and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
It’s just the latest sign that Senate Republicans’ patience with the president is wearing thin at a time when they should be unified to pass his massive immigration spending bill and to protect the Republican majority.
Trump announced the move on the heels of the Justice Department’s notification on Monday that it would abandon its planned $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund. On Tuesday, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told the House Appropriations Committee it“was not moving forward with the fund,” which had infuriated many Republicans.
It seemed like–to borrow a phrase from Sen. Susan Collins–the president had learned his lesson. But Trump’s decision seemed to cross yet another line.
And it’s coming as Trump has a contingent of Republicans who have an axe to grind after the president drove them out of a job. Known colloquially as the “YOLO caucus,” these are Republicans whom Trump drove out either through supporting primary challenges or forcing them not to seek re-election.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas told a gaggle of reporters that “I don’t see any evidence of qualifications for that job, but I’m willing to listen.”
Cornyn remains understandably salty after Trump backed Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Republican primary last week. The four-term Texas Republican lost his primary last week and now Texas’s Senate seat risks falling into Democratic hands.
Unsurprisingly, Sen. Thom Tillis, the unofficial chairman of the YOLO caucus, had the loudest criticism for Blanche. The North Carolina Republican announced last year he would not seek re-election after he opposed Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” and helped drive Kristi Noem out of the job as Homeland Security secretary.
“I had no idea he had national security experience,” he told The Independent. “I’m gonna have to look into his resume.”
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) told a local Louisiana First News that he had his own reservations, saying Pulte “doesn’t seem to be qualified.”
Cassidy lost his primary last month after Trump endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow to replace him as payback after Cassidy voted to convict Trump for his actions on January 6.
The reaction from Cornyn and Tillis symbolizes the changing attitude among Republicans compared to last year. Cornyn, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, voted to confirm Tulsi Gabbard in deference to Trump’s re-election and to save his own skin.
Tillis voted to confirm Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense despite his own reservations toward Hegseth. And Cassidy famously sacrificed his credibility as a physician to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
But now that they are out of a job, the group is free to vote according to their conscience.
Combine that with Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who needs to break with the president to win re-election in a blue state, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, whose home state has ranked-choice voting, and that makes five out of 53 Republicans. That’s just enough to sink any of Trump’s major legislative priorities or nominees.
But it’s not just the YOLO Caucus and the Mod Squad who have reservations. When Murkowski’s fellow Alaskan Sen. Dan Sullivan was informed about the nomination, he said, “I don’t know who that is.”
This is poppycock. In March of last year, Sullivan voted to confirm Pulte to lead FHFA. But Sullivan is embroiled in a tough race against former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola in Alaska.
For the past year, Trump has used his return to Washington as an opportunity to poke, prod and tweak Republicans, especially the older establishment types whom he felt were never fully on the MAGA train.
But he still has to work with them to get his agenda through and needs to present a united front against the Democrats. And after repeatedly antagonizing Republicans in the upper chamber, he might have pushed them to their limit.
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