Republicans are not reacting well to President Donald Trump's recent concessions to Democrats, including sending out a reassuring tweet to DACA beneficiaries after running it by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and agreeing to a debt ceiling extension with both Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
"Chuck Schumer — whose title is minority leader, not majority leader — just made himself the most powerful man in America for the month of December," Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said on the Senate floor during debate on a $15.25 billion hurricane relief bill. "What's going to happen today is that the calendar for the next 90 days will be laser-beam focused on that December shutdown and showdown. And Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi now have most of the cards for when we get to December."
http://twitter.com/cspan/status/905837806718775296
"This is an embarrassing moment for a Republican Congress and a Republican administration. "
Another Republican, this time in the House, said that hearing Trump's announcements was a shock.
"I will tell you that I gasped when I heard it," Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., told Talking Points Memo. "In fact, I sought clarification when the President told us before the flight — I sought clarification to make sure I understood that applied to the debt ceiling and the CR (continuing resolution), and not just the CR. When we received that confirmation, I said, ‘Wow.’ I was at a dinner last night where that was not in anybody’s dream."
Cramer added that he wasn't ready to get off the Trump train just yet. "I trust the president’s negotiating ability. I think he felt this was the best deal he could get. The speaker and the leader felt the same, or they wouldn’t have agreed to it. Now it’s going to be a tough sell in our conference, there is no question about it."
Meanwhile, Republican Study Committee Chairman Rep. Mark Walker of North Carolina sent a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday, according to The Washington Post. In it, Walker complained that "this would simply increase the borrowing authority of the government while irresponsibly ignoring the urgency of reforms. Worse yet is attaching the debt limit to legislation that continues the status quo or even worsens the trajectory on spending, such as the deal announced yesterday."
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina placed the blame squarely at the feet of both Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
"Let’s be clear. There was not a conservative option on the debt ceiling that was offered to the president," Meadows told reporters on Wednesday.
Another member of the House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina told The Hill that "[trust] may be a little shaky" in the president — but Duncan gave Trump the benefit of the doubt, insisting that "what Trump said, it was solid at least within the conservatives of the Republicans party."
Given far-right dissatisfaction with Trump's decision on the debt ceiling, one can glance at earlier statements by far right-ists like former KKK leader and Republican politician David Duke and Alabama Senate candidate Judge Roy Moore to sense how they must feel about his reassuring tweet for DACA beneficiaries.
Shares