Trump loses $1.8B 'slush fund,' gets rare rebuke on Iran: Is MAGA eroding or holding strong?

**Christy Strawser** (0:01)
Welcome to On Deadline, your radio news from Odyssey newsrooms across the country.
I'm Christy Strawser, Odyssey's managing editor of news. One of the biggest questions from the primary elections this week is what they prove about President Donald Trump and his enduring power as the midterms come into focus. And to that point, there have been some surprising breaks between the GOP leadership and the president. Here's more from WCCO in Minneapolis.

**Rachel Scott** (0:26)
The fund would have compensated the president's allies, including rioters who stormed the Capitol on January 6 This was put on hold a few days ago by the courts. The Department of Justice said they would comply with that order, but that was not enough to satisfy Republicans. They wanted a public commitment. The fund would be dropped entirely. All of this was part of an IRS settlement where the president agreed to drop his $10 billion lawsuit. But despite dropping the fund, the administration has made it clear it is still keeping an order that bans the president and his family from audits of already filed tax returns. Democrats labeling that blanket immunity, a judge in Florida is now reviewing the deal.

**Steve Simpson** (1:03)
I'm Steve Simpson, a House of Representatives delivering a rare rebuke to President Trump over the war with Iran, passing a resolution yesterday directing him to stop military action unless he gets approval from Congress. ABC's senior political correspondent, Rachel Scott.

**Rachel Scott** (1:19)
Four Republicans joining Democrats to support a war powers resolution, requiring the president to withdraw US forces in Iran unless Congress approves military action. Well, the measure is an uphill battle. It's a sign of the growing fractures within the president's own party over his handling of the war.

**Steve Simpson** (1:35)
That resolution would still need to be passed in the Senate. That appears unlikely at this point. Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a new ceasefire that includes a series of pilot security zones where Hezbollah militants would be banned. That's according to a joint statement released after a fourth round of US mediated talks. The Israeli ambassador to the US calling the agreement unprecedented.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:57)
They brought the people of Lebanon to the understanding that we're not the enemy, Hezbollah is. And now we're going to work together to rid the country of this Iranian proxy on Israel's border, which deprives Israel of its security and the Lebanese people of their freedom.

**Steve Simpson** (2:16)
Israel and Lebanon have agreed to reconvene the week of June 22nd for what the country representatives call a view toward reaching a comprehensive agreement.

**Christy Strawser** (2:25)
Here's more on members of the GOP defying the president from Tommy Tucker in New Orleans.

**Tommy Tucker** (2:30)
David Schultz joins us now, Professor of Political Science at Hamelin University and Law, I should add. I don't know, is this going to consolidate the president's power? Is it going to weaken it, somehow dilute it? Tell me, what is your take on this?

**David Schultz** (2:42)
I think it's a little bit of both. And we should also point out the fact that, you know, think about presidents are at their most powerful when they first get sworn in.
Gradually weaken over time and clearly after the midterm elections, especially if they're a second-termer like Trump, they dramatically become like lame ducks at this point. So Trump's inevitably going to become weaker after the midterm elections, anyhow. So when I'm listening to the AP story, I'm thinking on the one hand, well, the president is going to become weaker, but at the same time, Trump is right. He's been very successful in consolidating his base. And so he may have a combination of a more loyal base, but depending on what happens in the midterms, a smaller base, a base that might not be in the majority, or if it is in the majority, a base that doesn't or some parts of it that doesn't completely align with his interest because they're worried about re-election. So there's lots of trends going on there.

**Tommy Tucker** (3:44)
When it comes to the president making these decisions, I wonder if it's about the future of the Magna Nation, if it's about settling old scores, if it's about the future or the last two years of his presidency, as he sees it playing out. Is there a strategy here? Is he shooting from the hip? What do you think?

**David Schultz** (4:01)
A lot of it appears to be, and again, we obviously we can't read his mind, but a lot of it appears to be securing old scores, getting even with people he doesn't like. He's pretty well known for wanting highly intense loyalty and for punishing people who disagree with him. So I think that's part of it, but also part of it is that he is starting to think about legacy now. I mean, the fact that he wants to do things like what, build an arch, put a ballroom on the, a new ballroom on the White House, things like that. I think he's starting to think about what his marks are, but his marks seem to be, at least in some examples here, very, I don't know, on very short term at this point. He's not looking at what I can tell right now, the policy agenda in terms of longer term legacies, but, I don't know, the Trump arch, the Trump ballroom, the Trump reflecting pool, it's a different way of thinking about the legacy that he wants to leave at this point.