Inside the Trump-Senate meltdown

According to Axios, President Trump's lunch with Republican senators Tuesday descended into a heated confrontation, primarily over his four-month military campaign in Iran and the Senate's passage of a war powers resolution to constrain it. The president opened by calling out four Republican senators who voted for that resolution. Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana stood up to respond, telling Trump: 'You have not told the American people what's going on. It was supposed to last four weeks. It's lasted four months.' The exchange escalated from there. Trump brought up Cassidy's recent primary loss to a Trump-backed challenger—a sensitive topic. One source described Cassidy's anger level as 'out of body.' Senator Ted Cruz characterized the lunch as 'spirited.' Trump also pushed for passage of the SAVE America Act, a voter ID bill, and for senators to eliminate the filibuster. But Majority Leader John Thune said nothing during the lunch, and there was little productive discussion about either initiative. Most senators left with their original positions unchanged.

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