Lately, Donald Trump isn’t getting everything he wants on Capitol Hill, where many Republican lawmakers are getting nervous about holding on to their majorities in the coming midterm elections. More are willing to publicly buck unpopular parts of the president’s agenda — and it’s not just a small group of critics.

In recent weeks, Republicans have rebelled against Trump’s demand to fund the construction of a White House ballroom, a Department of Justice compensation fund for people it says were wronged by the government and Trump’s choice of Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and a stalwart ally with no intelligence experience, to oversee the nation’s intelligence agencies. As the war with Iran continues, both legislative chambers voted to rebuke the president’s strategy in what appears to have turned into another quagmire in the Middle East.

“We don’t want to oppose the president just for the sake of opposing the president, but unlike the president, we have a third of our members up for reelection this year,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), who is retiring, said the threats to the GOP’s control of congressional majorities in an interview with NOTUS. “I just think more members, you know, the closer you get to the election, the more real these threats become, and the more realistic people get.”

And on Thursday, three vulnerable Senate Republicans on the ballot in November — Susan Collins of Maine, Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Jon Husted of Ohio — voted with Democrats to kill Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund. Their effort didn’t succeed, but it signaled deep anxiety about supporting what Democrats have dubbed a “political slush fund” for Trump allies.

On top of Trump’s recent moves that have upset members, it’s been the timing that has particularly angered them, three Republican sources told NOTUS.

The party-line package aimed at bolstering funding for border operations and Immigration and Customs Enforcement was on a relative glide path to passage, even as members considered how to handle money to secure the planned ballroom and East Wing modernization project.

President Trump speaks to reporters at the White House ballroom construction site in May. Jacquelyn Martin/AP

That changed, however, when Trump announced the so-called “anti-weaponization fund,” to steer taxpayer money to those arguing they were targeted by the government.

“There’s a really stark frustration that’s probably past the boiling point to a place of resentment, actually,” one senior Senate GOP aide said. “You’ve had, whether it’s Senate Republican leadership and really just generally the conference working really hard to deliver the president’s agenda, and frankly it’s the White House and the president himself that keeps shooting us in the foot when we’re on the goal line of delivering some of these key things.”

Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) pointed at the White House for mismanaging the process, lobbing a grenade on Capitol Hill that derailed the party-line immigration bill last month.

“The fund was released abruptly,” he said. “It wasn’t fleshed out. People had a-zillion-and-one questions. The attorney general came. He didn’t answer all the questions, in part, because we ran out of time.”

Trump also infuriated members by endorsing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn just a week before the primary. Many Republicans were miffed at the late move to defeat Cornyn, a popular lawmaker and former top Senate leader.

Sen. John Cornyn leaves an election night event after losing to Ken Paxton on May 26. Ashley Landis/AP

Most recently, Trump announced that he would be tapping Pulte to become acting director of national intelligence despite him having no national security experience. That decision has jeopardized the reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, leaving some in the party to wonder why he did not wait to make that personnel announcement until after the legislative push was complete.

“Somebody’s not serving him well,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota), adding that the timing of the Pulte announcement specifically was “a mystery.”

“With Donald Trump, he’s usually a step ahead of all the rest of us, and oftentimes you look back and go, ‘Oh, that makes sense now.’ I think some of it may be that, on one hand,” he said. “On the other, maybe he’s not being served as well by advisers as he was in the first term, because some of this stuff does seem like unforced errors.”

Abigail Jackson, a spokesperson for the White House, said in a statement to NOTUS on Friday that the president has “enjoyed working closely with Senate Republicans to deliver on many important promises to the American people, including the largest tax cut for working Americans in history.” She added, “While the media and Democrats attempt to sow nonexistent divisions, we look forward to continuing this close relationship to continue fulfilling President Trump’s agenda that Americans elected him to enact – especially last night’s vote to fund ICE and CBP.”

Due to the blowback from members of his own party, the president announced Thursday afternoon that Pulte’s move to DNI post was temporary. “He’s not going to be permanent because, you know, I don’t think he’d want to be permanent, Trump told reporters. It’s unclear if that comment will get the surveillance bill back on track.

Another question centers on whether Trump’s directives to Capitol Hill still carry the kind of weight that they did at the start of his second term. One GOP source specifically pointed to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s recent declaration under oath to the Senate Appropriations Committee that the weaponization fund is dead, indicating that it was needed for members instead of a declaration from Trump via his Truth Social feed or in another manner.

Trump’s decision this week to nominate Blanche to a permanent position as attorney general will also test his sway with Republicans on Capitol Hill. Two Republican senators that Trump has repeatedly attacked and essentially pushed into retirement — Tillis and Cornyn — serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is tasked with processing Blanche’s nomination. Either senator could block Blanche’s nomination.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testifies before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies on June 2. Francis Chung/POLITICO/AP

Tillis has expressed concerns with comments Blanche made in the past when he served as Trump’s personal lawyer, as well as his position on the DOJ “anti-weaponization” fund.

“What we need to do right now is focus on the [DOJ] fund, or he’s not going to have a very good time in the Judiciary Committee,” Tillis said Thursday of Blanche.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune also seemed uncertain about Blanche’s path to confirmation.

“This is an environment where nothing is a safe or true bet,” he told reporters Thursday.

That environment includes bipartisan discontent with the Iran war and its inflationary effect on the price of gas and consumer goods. Trump’s approval rating is at record lows, according to The Economist, giving Republican lawmakers more freedom to speak out against policies they don’t agree with.

“It’s not like, ‘OK, I’m going to take my stand and push back against the president.’ These are not good ideas,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski said in an interview with NOTUS. “It’s not a good idea to tell the American public that I want to renovate a ballroom and I’m going to pay for it with donations, and then turn around and say, ‘I need taxpayer dollars for it.’”

“This is not, you know, a design to be a revolt against Donald Trump. It’s not a good idea, and we don’t support the ideas that are not good ideas,” she reiterated.

This story was updated with a comment from the White House.