Donald Trump has had enough of watching Senate Republicans play nice.
The President went public with his fury, and the name he put in the crosshairs is one most Americans have never heard of.
And Trump just dropped the hammer on this RINO saboteur in one stunning declaration of war.
Trump Drops the Hammer on Truth Social
The President took to Truth Social with a post that left no room for interpretation. “Shockingly, Republicans have kept the very important position of ‘Parliamentarian’ in the hands of a woman, Elizabeth MacDonough, who was appointed, long ago, by Barack Hussein Obama and a vicious Lunatic known as Senator Harry Reid, who ran the Senate for the Dumocrats with an ‘iron fist.’ Over the years, she has been brutal to Republicans, but not so to the Dumocrats — So why has she not been replaced?” Trump asked.
He didn’t stop there.
“The Republicans play a very soft game compared to the Dumocrats. It is their single biggest disadvantage in politics. The Dumocrats cheat, lie, and steal, especially when it comes to Votes in Elections, but stick together, whereas the Republicans allow the Elizabeth MacDonoughs of the World to stay in power, and brutalize us,” Trump wrote.
He also demanded: “We need THE SAVE AMERICA ACT passed, and NOW — And, likewise, kill the Filibuster, which would give us everything!”
The SAVE Act is a commonsense election integrity measure designed to ensure only American citizens decide American elections — and it’s been stalled in part because of the procedural power this one unelected official wields.
Who Is Elizabeth MacDonough — and Why Does She Have This Much Power?
MacDonough, a nonpartisan referee of Senate rules who has held the job since 2012, has played a central role in deciding what can be passed through budget reconciliation, the fast-track process that bypasses the 60-vote filibuster.
She serves at the pleasure of the majority leader, which means Senate Majority Leader John Thune, not Trump, has the power to dismiss her.
One person — appointed by Harry Reid over a decade ago — gets to tell a Republican-controlled Senate what it can and can’t pass. And the Republican running the Senate refuses to do anything about it.
The broadside came just days after MacDonough ruled that a provision allowing roughly $1 billion in White House and Secret Service security funding tied to Trump’s ballroom project could not be included in Republicans’ reconciliation package under Senate rules.
Republicans are currently trying to pass a $72 billion immigration enforcement funding package, but MacDonough over the weekend stripped out one of Trump’s major requests for $1 billion to, in part, pay for security enhancements to his colossal White House ballroom project.
Thune Pushes Back — Gently
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told reporters Wednesday he hadn’t read Trump’s posts in full. His response to the idea of firing MacDonough was about as firm as a wet paper bag.
Thune observed it’s not the first time Trump has made such a demand, adding that while “there may be some issues related to the parliamentarian, but most of the issues we have here are votes.” “That’s, I guess, his opinion. But that would create even more vote issues here if we were to try and do something like that. So we’ll make sure that everybody has got security around here,” Thune said, referring to concerns that MacDonough could be targeted after Trump’s broadside.
Security. That’s what Thune wanted to talk about. Not the substance of Trump’s complaint. Not the fact that a Democrat-appointed bureaucrat keeps stripping the President’s priorities out of legislation Republicans are trying to pass.
Thune said the biggest obstacle to securing funding for the ballroom isn’t the parliamentarian, but “vote count.” Firing MacDonough, he said, could make it even harder to round up enough GOP votes for the funding.
And U.S. Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) offered perhaps the most telling response of all when asked if MacDonough should go. “For what,” Kennedy said. Just two words. That’s where some Senate Republicans are right now.
Senate RINOs don’t want to pass the SAVE Act, and they are hiding behind the Senate parliamentarian.
This Isn’t the First Rodeo
The ballroom ruling isn’t what started this fight. MacDonough has been a thorn in the side of Republicans going back through Trump’s entire second term.
It’s not the first time that Republicans have called for MacDonough to be fired. Last year, after MacDonough stripped out provisions that would have caused steep cuts to Medicaid spending, a handful in the GOP demanded that she be replaced.
U.S. Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS) pointed out at the time that there was already a precedent for removing a parliamentarian. “In 2001, Majority Leader Trent Lott fired the Senate parliamentarian during reconciliation,” Marshall said. So it’s been done before. It can be done again. The question is whether Thune has the spine to do it.
Back during the fight over the One Big Beautiful Bill, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) didn’t mince words when MacDonough knocked out a provision that would have blocked illegal aliens from accessing Medicaid. “The WOKE Senate Parliamentarian, who was appointed by Harry Reid and advised Al Gore, just STRUCK DOWN a provision BANNING illegals from stealing Medicaid from American citizens. THE SENATE PARLIAMENTARIAN SHOULD BE FIRED ASAP,” he said.
Tuberville added: “Unelected bureaucrats think they know better than U.S. Congressmen who are elected BY THE PEOPLE.”
Hard to argue with that.
Trump’s Warning About What Democrats Will Do Next
The President didn’t just complain. He laid out what he believes happens if Republicans keep playing it safe.
“The Dumocrats will end up with 2 additional States, D.C. and Puerto Rico, and all that entails, including 4 Senators, many Congressmen, and many additional Electoral Votes, and they will also get their dream of a packed United States Supreme Court with their most favorite number — 21 Justices. The Dumocrats will eliminate the Filibuster on the First Day that they get an opportunity to do so. The Republicans aren’t doing it because they say the Dumocrats will never do it, but the Republicans are WRONG. Get smart and tough Republicans, or you’ll all be looking for a job much sooner than you thought possible!” Trump wrote.
Trump is right to sound the alarm on this. If Democrats ever retake the Senate, they will blow up the filibuster without blinking. They’ll pack the Supreme Court with enough left-wing justices to rubber-stamp every radical agenda item for a generation. They’ll hand statehood to Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico — not because those residents deserve representation, but because it permanently tilts the electoral map in their favor and locks Republicans out of power for decades. These aren’t policy proposals. They’re election-rigging dressed up in constitutional language.
Trump claimed that if Republicans don’t end the filibuster and pass stricter voting rules, “you will never see another Republican President again.”
That’s not hyperbole. That’s math.
The Soft Game Has Real Consequences
The frustrating part isn’t that MacDonough exists. Every institution has its bureaucrats. The frustrating part is that Republicans have the power to remove her and won’t use it.
The Senate could vote to overrule the parliamentarian, but both parties have generally avoided doing so as they view such a move as akin to eliminating the filibuster. That’s the argument Thune and others keep making. But here’s what they leave out: Democrats don’t share that restraint. They’ve already used procedural maneuvers to reshape the Senate when it suited them, and they’ll do it again the moment they have the votes.
Republicans keep playing by rules Democrats wrote and then abandoned. And the American voters who gave Trump his mandate in 2024 are watching Senate leadership shrug while an Obama-appointed bureaucrat blocks the President’s priorities one ruling at a time.
Trump’s Truth Social post came two days after Semafor reported that Trump had “aired his displeasure with the Senate rules referee during a Monday call with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, criticizing her decision to block a filibuster-proof vote on security money for his East Wing renovation and ballroom.”
So Trump raised it privately first. Then he went public. And Senate Republicans are still standing pat.
The President called it a “soft game.” He’s being generous.
Sources: Mediaite, Fox News, The Hill, Washington Times, Just the News, Daily Caller, Eastern Herald