{"id":22855,"date":"2026-07-31T07:12:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T02:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=22855"},"modified":"2026-07-31T07:12:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T02:12:02","slug":"inside-trumps-senate-playbook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=22855","title":{"rendered":"Inside Trump&#039;s Senate playbook"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/-mA2XpGJr_VC6y4Fxo_nRlyeJgA=\/0x0:4000x2250\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/30\/1785451842170.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>President Trump has three go-to moves for GOP senators who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/29\/senate-republicans-trump-john-thune-reconciliation\" target=\"_blank\">frustrate him<\/a>: persuade them when he can, ignore them when he must and bully them at will.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters:<\/strong> The approach doesn&#8217;t always produce results. But it almost always <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/29\/trump-senate-republicans-maga-budget-bill\" target=\"_blank\">provides drama<\/a>.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Persuade:<\/strong> Trump dispatched two top deputies to the Senate GOP lunch on Wednesday to make the case, in person, for a third reconciliation bill with elements of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/03\/29\/save-act-voter-registration-distance-travel\" target=\"_blank\">SAVE Act<\/a>. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Then he sent in the big guns. Chief of Staff <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/12\/16\/susie-wiles-vanity-fair-interview-trump-chief-staff\" target=\"_blank\">Susie Wiles<\/a> huddled with the Senate GOP leaders shortly after their lunch. <\/li>\n<li>When Trump faced a Senate rebuke over the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/world\/iran\" target=\"_blank\">Iran conflict<\/a> last month, the White House aggressively lobbied wavering Republicans to flip their votes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Ignore:<\/strong> Acting Attorney General <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/30\/todd-blanche-nomination-issues-trump\" target=\"_blank\">Todd Blanche<\/a> doesn&#8217;t need Senate confirmation to do the job, Trump declared on Truth Social on Thursday.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He can serve as acting attorney general indefinitely. Problem solved.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Bully:<\/strong> Trump began the week by demanding that Majority Leader <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/27\/donald-trump-john-thune-senate-republicans-save-act\" target=\"_blank\">John Thune<\/a> (R-S.D.) scrap the filibuster and pass the SAVE Act.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;Remember, stupidity always brings LOSING &amp; DEATH!&#8221; Trump wrote.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What we&#8217;re watching:<\/strong> Bullying appeared to be Trump&#8217;s preferred tactic this week. By Wednesday, he was openly questioning whether Thune should remain majority leader.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Thune&#8217;s best defense was to downplay his own powers.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;He thinks I can wave the magic wand,&#8221; Thune told Politico. &#8220;I wish it were that easy.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Trump&#8217;s penchant for bullying has emboldened some senators to stand their ground \u2014 such as John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who have blocked Blanche&#8217;s nomination. Both will be out of the Senate in January. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Zoom in:<\/strong> Trump&#8217;s anger with the Senate keeps flaring, despite Thune&#8217;s success in rapidly confirming his nominees.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>With Jay Clayton&#8217;s confirmation as director of national intelligence, the GOP-led Senate has confirmed 515 of Trump&#8217;s nominees \u2014 with another batch of 74 on the way.<\/li>\n<li>That&#8217;s a faster pace than the first administration and leaves only a handful of civilian nominations remaining on the Executive Calendar.<\/li>\n<li>Trump now has the authority to install many of the remaining nominees in acting roles across the federal government.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Zoom out:<\/strong> With one week left before the August recess, Senate Republican vibes are going from bad to worse.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>New polls show Americans continuing to sour on the GOP.<\/li>\n<li>The MAGA base is still enraged over the SAVE Act. <\/li>\n<li>Everything from the NDAA to crypto legislation is hitting roadblocks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>And Trump doesn&#8217;t appear interested <\/strong>in easing the pressure on his own party. <\/p>\n<p><strong>The bottom line:<\/strong> Trump reserves the right to toggle among his three approaches, depending on his needs and mood.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>And while he can ignore the Senate on some personnel, he can&#8217;t ignore it on legislation. He still needs 50 votes \u2014 or, in some cases, 60. <\/li>\n<li>&#8220;When crazy becomes the norm, it feels pretty routine,&#8221; one GOP senator told Axios.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Trump has three go-to moves for GOP senators who frustrate him: persuade them when he can, ignore them when he must and bully them at will. Why it matters: The approach doesn&#8217;t always produce results. But it almost always provides drama. Persuade: Trump dispatched two top deputies to the Senate GOP lunch on Wednesday&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/-mA2XpGJr_VC6y4Fxo_nRlyeJgA=\/0x0:4000x2250\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/30\/1785451842170.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}