“A trio of election results this week have Republicans confronting a new reality: not only are they facing political headwinds as the party in power but simultaneously grappling with a dramatic reversal in the partisan preferences of the country’s most reliable voters,” CNN reports.

“For years, Republicans were seen as the party that dominated lower profile elections outside presidential years, while Democratic voters were less consistent. But under President Donald Trump, Republicans worry their base has shifted to include low propensity voters who turn out for him but are not as motivated as Democrats to show up when he’s not on the ballot.”

“On one of the most politically stressful days of Donald Trump’s presidency, his party sent a more reassuring signal: Most Republicans are ready to back his new tariffs and the next step of his slow-moving Hill agenda,” Semafor reports.

“Even after a high-profile loss in a Wisconsin judicial race raised the specter of future midterm problems, most Republicans lined up Wednesday in defense of Trump’s Canada tariff plans and forthcoming reciprocal tariffs. Simultaneously, Trump helped Senate Majority Leader John Thune secure the votes needed to advance a bare-bones budget resolution that defers a lot of tough decisions about his agenda.”

Axios: Trump forces GOP to swallow protectionist tariffs.

Politico: “The multi-front effort to memorialize a president who is still alive, let alone still living in the White House, has no precedent in congressional history. While none of the bills are expected to become law, it underscores the lengths that some House Republicans are willing to go to curry favor with Trump.”

Playbook: “A look at the bills: In total, there are five such bills introduced in the House over the past two months, which would: put Trump’s face on the $100 bill, create a new $250 bill with Trump’s face adorning it, make Trump’s birthday (June 14) a federal holiday, rename Dulles Airport in Trump’s honor and carve Trump’s face on Mount Rushmore.”

Axios: “It’s the worst-kept secret in town. Most elected Republicans are staying silent on issues they find dubious, dumb or destructive.”

“In private, they’re more forthcoming about their concerns and their mixed motivations for zipping their lips — genuine support for Trump and genuine fear of crossing him.”

“Almost universally, Republicans have convinced themselves that by winning a second time, Trump earned whatever Cabinet he wants, and the freedom to pursue the policies of his choice.”

“They see no upside — or good reason — to oppose him because Trump, Musk and others would torch them publicly and on social media, and almost certainly threaten a primary challenge.”

Vice President J.D. Vance will serve as the RNC’s finance chair, telling Fox News that he will work with the party to “fully enact the MAGA mandate” and grow the Republican majority in Congress in 2026.  

New York Times: “Mr. Vance will serve as the finance chair of the Republican National Committee, an unusual arrangement for a sitting vice president. In both national parties, the finance chair role has typically gone to a reliable party fund-raiser who has time on his or her hands, not someone with significant governing responsibilities.”

“Vice President J.D. Vance made an explicit attempt on Tuesday to bridge warring factions within the Republican Party, arguing that the “tensions” between the populist and tech wings of the conservative movement could be overcome,” the New York Times reports.

“Mr. Vance’s remarks, delivered at a technology conference in Washington, amounted to the most intentional effort from the administration to date to manage these groups within President Trump’s movement. Some conservatives have worried that the uneasy alliance between Mr. Trump’s populist base and his new support from Silicon Valley was destined to unravel.”

Rachel Bade: “Trump is redefining GOP orthodoxy in so many ways it’s difficult to keep track. But the turnabout on the House floor has been especially stark. Without much drama at all, he’s convinced even the most skeptical Republicans to extend a spending deal negotiated in part by Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer — making them swallow the kind of long-term patch that both fiscal hawks and Pentagon cheerleaders have railed against for years.”

New York Times: “This account of how Mr. Trump is using his influence with Republicans on Capitol Hill is based on interviews with more than a dozen people familiar with the interactions, most of whom insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations. They described an approach in which Mr. Trump, who has spent years showing Republicans that he can either be their greatest champion or their worst political enemy, focuses intently on wooing and socializing with G.O.P. lawmakers, relying on the implicit but rarely stated threat of ruining them to get his way when they stray from his demands.”

“And they said Mr. Trump’s tactics were more carrot than stick. He relies on the trappings of the presidency — rides on Air Force One; visits with their spouses to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla.; White House tchotchkes; and seemingly endless Sharpie signatures on Trump-branded merchandise — to make Republicans members of Congress feel special and indebted to him.”

“President Donald Trump expressed optimism about negotiations in Congress to push forward his agenda on taxes and immigration, declaring that his party’s political movement will have lasting staying power in Washington,” Bloomberg reports.

“Trump reprised many measures of his first month back in the White House in a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, telling the friendly audience he’s confident the Republican Party will beat the historical odds and avoid a voter backlash in next year’s midterm elections.”

“The president of the New York University chapter of the College Republicans of America submitted her resignation, the organization announced Monday, after a comment she made about NYU freshman Barron Trump rubbed them the wrong way,” the Daily Beast reports.

“Kaya Walker told Vanity Fair that the son of the president is ‘sort of like an oddity on campus,’ adding, ‘He goes to class, he goes home.’”

“The hell with Republicans! They’re not going to do anything, they’re the problem!”

— Former RNC chairman Michael Steele, quoted by the Daily Beast.

President Donald Trump said if Republicans do their “job” over the next 21 months, the GOP will have a “national governing coalition that will preserve American freedom for generations to come,” Punchbowl News reports.

Trump also said that the GOP is “shattering and replacing Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal coalition, which dominated American politics for over 100 years.”