Trump's power play is BACKFIRING as betrayed Republicans go rogue

[0:00] let me just acknowledge that what I'm about to say is going to seem like a very weird place to [0:05] start this show. But I promise you it is relevant to one of the biggest stories of the day. Okay, [0:11] this is Jackie Heinrich. She is a White House reporter over at the Fox News Network. You may [0:16] have seen her years ago questioning me from the briefing room. And last year, Fox News reporter, [0:21] again, you see it right there on your screen, Jackie Heinrich got engaged to this guy [0:24] on screen, Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania. [0:28] And that's the moment after he popped the question. They're in a lavender field in France. [0:33] It's all very adorable. Now, why am I telling you all of this? You're like, what is happening right [0:38] now? Because today that Fox News reporter tried to ask the president of the United States a pretty [0:44] straightforward question. And this is how he responded. Minister Netanyahu. When her husband [0:53] votes against me all the time, I don't know what's with him. You better ask him what's with him. [0:59] Her husband is married to a certain congressman. He likes voting against Trump. You know what happens [1:05] with that? It doesn't work out well. I don't know why he does. Okay, first off, as far as I know, [1:12] Congressman Fitzpatrick is not quite Jackie Heinrich's husband yet. They're getting married [1:16] later this spring. But that's beside the point. The point here is this. Donald Trump is making [1:22] not-so-veiled threats aimed at members of his own party who have the audacity to vote against his [1:28] agenda. Now, inside Trump's mind palace, you could call it, he clearly believes he's riding high after [1:35] he ousted Republican Congressman Thomas Massey last night, after he ousted Republican Senator Bill [1:40] Cassidy last week, and after he ousted several Republican state legislators in Indiana earlier [1:45] this month. He clearly feels great about all of the members of his own party he has managed to take [1:53] out in the past month. I'd note it took $33 million to take out Massey, most expensive race in [1:58] congressional history. And now he's expanding the battlefield of his Republican civil war, [2:04] though I would note, threatening not just Republicans in ruby-red districts who will be [2:09] replaced by other Republicans, but Republicans like Brian Fitzpatrick, who represents a crucial swing [2:15] district, Republicans are trying desperately to hold on to this November. To put a fine point on it, [2:21] I think you all get this, but if Trump takes out Brian Fitzpatrick, a Democrat takes that seat, [2:26] not a Republican. So how did Brian Fitzpatrick take Trump's not-so-veiled threat? Did he cower in [2:33] fear from a president who is bragging about the foes he's taken out from his own party? [2:38] Well, here was Brian Fitzpatrick just a few hours later, when he was asked about Trump's new slush fund [2:44] for capital rioters, a.k.a. the so-called anti-weaponization fund. [2:50] What are you making of this $1.7 billion fund for- [2:53] Bad news. We're going to try to kill it. [2:55] You're going to try to kill it? [2:55] Yeah. [2:56] Wow. Okay. And how? [2:57] Well, we're considering legislative options. We're going to write a letter [3:01] to the AG to start, but we're considering a legislative option. [3:06] Okay. [3:07] We're trying to unpack exactly, you know, what the legal machinations are, but you can't do that. [3:12] Right. And have you ever heard of any other Americans, like, other than Trump as an associate [3:16] who are unauditable by the IRS? [3:19] I've never heard that before. [3:20] Okay. So would that be part of the legislative? [3:22] Of course. Of course. Yeah, you can't do that. [3:26] Yeah, you can't do that. Pretty clear. That's what I've been saying. That's what a lot of people [3:30] have been saying. But Brian Fitzpatrick does not sound at all scared of Trump's threats. That was not [3:35] a fearful guy. But before you give him any sort of profile and courage award, you should know that [3:40] Brian Fitzpatrick represents a district that Joe Biden won by three and a half points. [3:44] He knows that no matter how much Trump thumps his chest, no matter how many times he threatens him, [3:49] the people who he really has to fear are the general election voters in his district. [3:54] Those are the people who have the power to take him from congressman to unemployed husband of a [3:58] much younger Fox News reporter. That's almost certainly why today Congressman Fitzpatrick sent a [4:04] letter to acting attorney general Todd Blanche demanding answers about Trump's new slush fund [4:08] for capital rioters. And Congressman Fitzpatrick isn't just some random member of Congress trying [4:14] to pick a fight with Trump. He sits on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, which has oversight [4:18] over the IRS. So he will have ample opportunity, potentially, to demand more answers about this [4:24] fund. And the thing is, Brian Fitzpatrick isn't the only Republican who doesn't seem scared by [4:29] Trump's threats. Today, Republicans are preparing to strip the taxpayer money for Trump's very [4:33] unpopular ballroom project out of their latest funding bill. Trump had pressured Senate Majority [4:38] Leader John Thune to take drastic measures to force that funding through Congress. He even pressured [4:43] Thune to fire the Senate parliamentarian so they could override the rules of Congress, [4:47] all to get his precious ballroom money. But John Thune didn't fire the parliamentarian. [4:52] And even if he had, the funding for the ballroom would probably not have made it into the package [4:57] because Trump still apparently doesn't have enough support from members of his own party [5:00] to pass the bill with that included. Republican Senator John Kennedy even told reporters, [5:06] quote, [5:06] this one is not the parliamentarian's fault. The votes aren't there, plainly and simply. [5:11] So aside from the fact that it feels like a politically insane thing to vote for, [5:16] why aren't Republicans falling in line with Trump's ballroom project? [5:19] Well, according to Politico, the mood over Trump's ballroom soured Tuesday amid anger over Trump's [5:25] decision to endorse Ken Paxton over incumbent Senator John Cornyn in the upcoming Republican [5:30] primary runoff in Texas. So here's the thing. Trump's attempts to assert power over his party [5:37] seemed to be backfiring with his slush fund, with his ballroom, even with this war. I mean, [5:43] just two days after Trump ousted Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana in his primary, [5:48] Cassidy broke ranks and cast the deciding vote to move forward with a resolution [5:51] to rein in Trump's war in Iran. That measure now appears likely to pass the Senate. It's going [5:57] to be sent over to the House. These are all want one offs. They're a part of a pattern [6:03] of Trump's attempts at retribution against people in his own party backfiring. And no one but Trump [6:10] and his closest sycophants think he is operating from a real position of power. As one anonymous senior [6:16] operative for Senate Republicans told Politico, those so-called victories over the last couple weeks [6:21] are just a mirage. They are self-owns. We're not actually beating Democrats and we're not actually [6:27] advancing legislation. Instead, gas is up 45 percent due to our actions and the president's decision to [6:33] go to war with Iran. He's focused on the ballroom. He's announced a $1.8 billion restitution fund [6:39] with zero details or congressional authority to do so. It just is crazy. Trump is acting like he's [6:47] all-powerful within his party at a time when he's actually quite toxic. I mean, a new Quinnipiac poll [6:54] out today finds Trump's approval rating at just 34 percent, the lowest he's received in that poll [7:00] during his second term. That's on par with right around where he was right after January 6th, [7:06] just to give you a sense. And just 33 percent approve of his handling of the economy. Another [7:11] record low for that poll. A new Fox News poll out tonight also finds a record number of voters now [7:16] disapprove of Trump's handling of the economy, with disapproval from Republicans jumping seven points [7:21] in just the past month. Now, none of this has led to a big fever-breaking moment when Republicans in [7:28] Congress suddenly abandoned Trump en masse. That's not what I'm saying. But it has created several new [7:34] strains within the Republican Party, strains of Republicans who are more willing than ever, [7:39] seemingly, to break with Donald Trump. They're the group I'm going to call the survivors. [7:43] People like Senator Susan Collins of Maine, Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, who I just [7:48] talked about, who face tough re-election campaigns and are just trying to hang on to their jobs. [7:54] Then there's what we're going to start calling the YOLO caucus, as in you only live once. [7:59] Republicans who either chose to retire or were forced into retirement by Donald Trump, [8:03] and who now have zero Fs to give. People like Thomas Massey, Senator Bill Cassidy, [8:08] Tom Tillis. And if he loses next week's Texas Senate primary and subsequently grows his spine, [8:14] maybe John Cornyn will join him. I'm not going to hold my breath, but we can watch that. [8:19] A growing number of elected Republicans are increasingly unhappy with Trump's unhinged [8:23] behavior. The voters are increasingly unhappy with Trump's unhinged behavior. [8:28] So who is happy about all of this? Well, I mean, there's Trump himself, obviously. He feels very [8:33] good about himself. Trump doesn't seem to care who he alienates in his party, as long as he's able to [8:39] line his own pockets. And the New York Times reports that Trump's new slush fund settlement [8:43] with the IRS could erase as much as $100 million from his own tax bill. So Trump has no reason to [8:51] complain, even as members of his party start pulling their hair out over how bad this all [8:55] looks for them. Likewise, Trump's rogue gallery of insurrectionists and election deniers are equally [9:02] thrilled with the windfalls that may be coming their way. Disgraced MyPillow CEO and election [9:08] conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell told CNN he expects to receive, wait for it, at least $400 million [9:15] from the fund. The right-wing news outlet, One American News, is reportedly also considering [9:20] seeking money from the fund after they were sued for defamation for spreading false election [9:25] conspiracies. Remember, this is the same administration that stripped funding from nonpartisan outlets [9:31] like PBS and NPR, claiming they were ending taxpayer subsidies for biased media. Now they may end up [9:37] using your tax dollars to fund an explicitly biased right-wing outlet. And according to the New York [9:43] Times, many of the January 6 rioters have started to muse about what they might do with their settlement [9:48] money. Everything from new cars to new houses to funding new political campaigns. Enrique Tarrio, the leader of [9:55] the neo-fascist Proud Boys movement, told Reuters he wants between $2 and $5 million, adding, quote, [10:02] I'm not greedy. But amazingly, there are some Capitol rioters who have decided that $1.8 billion isn't enough [10:09] money. They actually think they deserve more. Jacob Chancellor, aka the QAnon shaman, told CNN that he isn't going [10:16] to participate in the fund because he's still suing the government for $40 trillion, which is about 10 times the [10:24] annual budget of the entire U.S. government, just to put it in perspective. Now another Capitol rider [10:29] reportedly said they didn't think $1.8 billion was enough once you divide it among all the [10:33] insurrectionists. He told the Times, quote, even when Trump divorced Marla Maples and he was getting [10:38] interviewed on it, he admitted that a million dollars isn't a lot of money. Look, handing over any amount [10:45] of money, a dollar, to these people isn't just immoral and insane. It's political suicide. The backlash [10:51] against this is growing by the day. Even Republicans are starting to understand how bad this looks for [10:57] them. The question now is, is there enough outrage and momentum for Congress to actually stop it?