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WASHINGTON – The White House is all prepped for Donald Trump's big night, when 5,000 guests are set to attend a UFC cage fight in a makeshift arena that has made the South Lawn look much like a theme park.But the president might have to ignore recent events to enjoy the June 14 celebration, which happens to fall on his 80th birthday.A series of setbacks with Republicans in Congress, the courts and drawn-out negotiations with Iran ‒ plus a rare loss for a candidate he backed in a Republican primary ‒ has plagued a president who was already struggling in polls five months from the November midterm elections.Senate Republicans stripped $1 billion out of a funding bill the White House sought to boost security for Trump's East Wing ballroom. Amid intense bipartisan pushback, the Trump administration retreated from a $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund that could be used to funnel payments to political allies, including Jan. 6 rioters. A federal judge ordered the removal of Trump's name from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts while also blocking his plans to temporarily close an iconic institution he wanted to remodel to his liking.And on the foreign policy front, Trump keeps teasing he's close to striking a deal with Iran that would end a war that has fueled high gas prices ‒ only to have peace talks stall. In a rebuke of Trump, the House of Representatives for the first time voted June 3 to block Trump from ordering further strikes on Iran as four Republicans joined Democrats, advancing the measure to the Senate."They involve self-inflicted wounds on the president's part," said Todd Belt, director of the political management program at George Washington University, calling the conflict in Iran a "war of choice." He added that the anti-weaponization fund and public dollars tied to the ballroom were "bridges too far" for Republican senators in self-survival mode as they look to maintain control of the Senate."They don't like to have to defend him on things they feel are not particularly defensible, like this one," Belt said of the $1.8 billion fund that was designed to compensate Trump's supporters who claimed they were treated unfairly by Democratic administrations. "He's gone too far and made mistakes."Are Senate Republicans becoming a problem for Trump?To top off the president's tough stretch ‒ after holding a perfect batting average year on Republican primary endorsements ‒ the candidate Trump endorsed in the Iowa GOP gubernatorial primary June 2, U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, was narrowly defeated by businessman Zach Lahn.Trump remains popular among his core supporters and influential for most Republican lawmakers, yet developments over the past two weeks have called into question his sway in the Senate in particular.Though Democrats have strong odds to take over the House in the midterms, Republicans hold a firmer grip on the Senate, where they have a 53-47 seat advantage. Still, Democrats are becoming increasingly bullish about a Senate takeover after off-year elections showed signs of a "blue wave" for the midterms.Republican senators balked at two Trump undertakings ‒ the White House ballroom and anti-weaponization fund ‒ they feared could be used against them in November as boondoggles as Americans continue to struggle with high day-to-day costs of living.Few senators seemed to buy Trump's argument that the $1 billion he asked Congress to authorize for White House security should be viewed separately from the ballroom, which he has promised to pay for with private dollars. And with Trump's anti-weaponization fund, some Republican senators seemed nearly as aghast as Democrats at the idea of taxpayer money potentially going to people who assaulted police officers in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021."I really don’t know," Trump told reporters May 21 when asked whether he was losing control of the Senate. "l can tell you, I only do what’s right."Trump refuses to say anti-weaponization fund is deadTrump flexed his political clout within the Republican Party by helping steer the primary defeats of U.S. Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and John Cornyn of Texas. Yet their losses have created a small pack of lame-duck GOP senators ‒ Cassidy, Cornyn and outgoing North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis ‒ who are suddenly more willing to push back publicly on the White House.Tillis, before Trump dropped the anti-weaponization fund, called it "beyond the pale" and warned: "This is bad policy. It's bad timing, and it's bad politics."Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche assured lawmakers at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing June 2 that the administration has scrapped the anti-weaponization fund. "We are not moving forward with the fund, period."Yet the next day, Trump made clear he still believes the fund is necessary. "I love it. I think it's so important," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, refusing to say whether the fund was dead or just on hold. "I'd have to ask the lawyers. I don't know," Trump said. "The weaponization fund, as far as I'm concerned, was a beautiful thing."Before Trump's remarks, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, expressed confidence that Blanche's commitment was enough to assuage Republicans' concerns.Senate Democrats, however, see an issue they can exploit. They intend to force Republicans to cast a vote on ensuring the anti-weaponization fund is killed through new legislation. "Does anyone think that Blanche will keep his word to stop this grift?" Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor.Trump says talks with Iran 'going well,' but there's still no dealAlthough the administration said it planned to appeal the judge's order to remove Trump's name from the Kennedy Center, Trump indicated he's now abandoning his plans to dramatically make over the institution. Trump said he plans to transfer control of the center to Congress after the judge also ruled he can't close the center for two years to pursue renovation."Unless I am free to do what I do better than anyone else, bring this Institution back, physically, financially, and artistically, I have no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into “NEVER NEVER LAND," Trump wrote in a social media post after the ruling.Trump's approval rating has dipped below 40% in several recent polls. An Economist/YouGov poll released June 2 found a second-term high 61% of Americans disapprove of Trump's performance as president, and 63% say the economy is getting worse. The negative economic outlook comes as gas prices rest $1.12 higher than a year ago because of the war in Iran."I don't care about the midterms," Trump said at a Cabinet meeting May 27 as he claimed Iranian leaders wrongly assumed they could "outwait" him in negotiations because of the political implications of a war before an election. Trump has said he wouldn't agree to a deal that didn't include Iran abandoning its nuclear weapons program.Trump lashed out in a Truth Social post at the four House Republicans who voted with Democrats to pass the resolution directing him to pull forces from the war in Iran, calling them "unpatriotic" and "grandstanders" who "should be ashamed at themselves."It was unclear when the resolution would be voted on in the Senate, which two weeks ago advanced a similar measure. Even if it passes, Trump would almost certainly veto the measure.Trump, who has long touted progress in talks with Iran, seemed to signal a deal was near when he announced May 29 that he was about to make a "final determination" in a White House Situation Room meeting on terms reached by negotiators.An agreement wasn't reached, however, and on June 1, Iran's negotiators halted communications with the United States in response to Israel's intensifying military campaign in Lebanon, according to Iranian state media.Trump shrugged off the setback. "If they’re over, they’re over," he said in a phone interview with CNBC. "If they’re not, you know, I think they took too much time. Frankly, I thought they started to get very boring."Trump later denied Iran stopped talking with the United States, telling reporters June 3 that negotiations were going smoothly and that an agreement could come together by this weekend."The negotiation itself has gone very well, actually," Trump said from the Oval Office. "If it happens ‒ and it might not happen, who knows ‒ it could happen like over the weekend."Trump has made similar declarations about the state of talks with Iran, but an agreement has yet to come.This story has been updated to correct the date of the War Powers Act vote.Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
