The Trump administration is currently navigating a tumultuous period, marked by internal strife and legislative setbacks. President Donald Trump is reportedly growing increasingly frustrated with his White House team and allies in Congress as Republicans push back against his legislative agenda.
The president’s discontent has reportedly intensified after Senate Republicans shut down the prospect of the $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fundfailed to pass funding for the White House ballroom, and pushed back on his demand to fire the Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough. The vibe among Trump’s inner circle is described as chaoswith sources indicating that knives are out in some capacity as the president unleashes his anger.
Legislative Setbacks and Congressional Opposition
After an explosive first year in office, when Trump saw his agenda implemented swiftly and aggressively, the president is now facing a series of setbacks. These setbacks are largely attributed to congressional Republicans’ dwindling support for several of the president’s ideas.
Most notably, Republicans refused to support the Department of Justice’s $1.776 billion fund that could have allowed Trump’s allies, including January 6 rioters, to obtain monetary support via federal tax dollars. Senate Republicans were so angry about the fund that they left for Memorial Day weekend without voting on key funding for Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda. The backlash eventually forced Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to cancel the idea.
Recently, Senate Republicans stripped $1 billion for security measures for the White House ballroom from the immigration enforcement funding legislation after the Senate parliamentarian ruled that the move violated rules. Seeing the parliamentarian, MacDonough, as an obstacle, Trump demanded that Senate Majority Leader John Thune fire her. However, Thune appeared to brush off the demand.
In addition, the president has struggled to pass the SAVE America Actlegislation that would implement new federal voting regulations, including voter ID rules. He recently demanded Senate Republicans add the bill to the defense funding package, but already Republicans have expressed skepticism toward the idea.
Primary Election Losses and Shifting Alliances
In addition to losses in the Senate, the president is facing losses in primary elections and is angry at his White House advisers for it. Last week, Rep. Randy Feenstra, whom Trump endorsed for Iowa governor, lost his gubernatorial Republican primary.
One White House ally told Politico that the president has increasingly turned to a group of loyalists and informal advisers, including his personal counsel Boris Epshteyn, assistant Natalie Harp, and Bill Pulte, the acting Director of National Intelligence. In his statement, Davis said Trump chooses the best and most talented people to serve in his Cabinet and emphasized that Pulte is a great selection and he will do a phenomenal job.
Publicly, the president is also fighting negative press over the Iran war, which escalated this past week, as inflation rose to its highest level in three years.
The Administration’s Stance on Disparate Impact Liability
In a significant shift, the Trump administration has been rolling back protections against disparate impact liabilitya legal theory that recognizes seemingly neutral policies can conceal unlawful discrimination. The administration argues that these policies should be left alone, lest statistical disparities become an excuse for racial engineering.
On June 4, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated its National Enforcement Plan to eliminate the use of disparate impact liability theories in its investigations and lawsuits. And on June 9, the Office of Legal Counsel published an opinion declaring that EEOC’s Title VII guidelines are unconstitutional.
The administration has long recognized that the discriminatory power of the Supreme Court’s legal reasoning in cases like Louisiana v. Callais can apply beyond polling places. In September 2026, the National Credit Union Association removed disparate impact liability from its Fair Lending Guidemaking it easier for banks to get away with illegal redlining. In December 2026, the DOJ eliminated disparate impact liability from its regulations enforcing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
Encouraged by recent Supreme Court precedents, the administration is now taking even bigger swings. In May 2026, the Office of Management and Budget published a 430-page proposal for overhauling the regulation of federal funding awards from all federal agencies, including a prohibition on the use of federal awards to promote or support disparate-impact liability.
The DOJ’s Investigations into Medical School Admissions
Last week, the Department of Justice announced that it opened 15 new investigations into potential racial discrimination in medical school admissions. The government’s primary evidence? That in 2026, the University of California, Davis School of Medicine became the third most racially diverse medical school in the country, behind only historically black universities.
The Trump administration smears disparate impact liability as racial balancing and works to prevent its use as a legal theory when it may result in Black people getting jobs or mortgages. But it encourages actual racial balancing when a student body is not as white as Trump thinks it should be.
The Secure America Act: A Legislative Victory
Amidst the setbacks, President Trump has signed the Secure America Act into law. The measure provides approximately $70 billion in funding for the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection through fiscal year 2029.
The legislation also allocates funding for ICE personnel, Homeland Security Investigations, immigration enforcement operations, IT, transportation, facility and fleet maintenance, the Office of the Principal Legal Adviser, and agreements that allow state and local agencies to conduct immigration enforcement functions.
In addition, the bill provides funding for DHS immigration enforcement efforts and for state and local agency participation in homeland security activities. The signing came a day after the House voted 214-212 to approve the measure, with the Senate passing the bill on Friday.
