'Embryonic spines': Trump faces growing Republican pushback

United States President Donald Trump is used to getting his own way with Republican lawmakers— but there are signs of dissent as his party nervously eyes the looming midterm elections. From a vote against the Iran war to dissent over his $1.8 billion “anti-weaponisation fund” and costly White House ballroom, the nearly 80-year-old president has faced growing pushback. It comes as Trump faces record-low approval ratings 500 days into his second term, deepening Republican fears that they could lose control of Congress in November’s midterms. Billionaire Trump, the only president in American history to be impeached twice, has himself warned that he could face a third impeachment if that happens. “Republicans are looking at their own polls and discovering that Trump is turning into a drag on their reelection chances,” Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia, told AFP. Trump himself has begun to appear increasingly bored with the political battles, preferring to talk about grand projects closer to his real-estate-developer heart. But Republicans worry that his focus on pet projects — like an Ultimate Fighting Championship bout at the White House on his June 14 birthday —make him look out of touch. ‘Grandstanders!’ The biggest rebuke to Trump came on Thursday when the House of Representatives backed a resolution seeking to halt the increasingly drawn-out US military action against Iran. Trump on Friday lashed out on social media at the “unpatriotic” move and blasted four members of the Republican majority who crossed the floor to vote with rival Democrats as “GRANDSTANDERS!” Since his extraordinary return to power in January 2025, Trump has largely exerted an iron grip over the Republican Party. The party has, in turn, largely subsumed itself to Trump’s wishes and to the goals of his “Make America Great Movement”. There have been blips, particularly over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, when lawmakers voted to release files related to the late sex of