2026-08-02T10:30:26.242Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
众议院议长迈克·约翰逊有时根本没法挂断特朗普总统的电话。这位路易斯安那州共和党议员常会告诉同僚，通话可能在白天、深夜，甚至是在白宫举行数小时会议之后打来。
但在国会山另一侧，另一位共和党高层领袖、参议院多数党领袖约翰·图恩却并非如此。
图恩可能数日乃至数周都收不到特朗普的来电。相反，他大多是通过特朗普的“真相社交”平台和媒体，才得知对方最新抛出的、搅乱共和党议程的“重磅炸弹”，或是针对他这位参议院多数党领袖本人的抨击。
在参议院当前面临的最新高风险阶段——特朗普提名的内阁官员陷入困境、总统的选举年议程岌岌可危、一项巨额伊朗拨款法案悬而未决——时，图恩告诉CNN，他已经近两周没和总统通过话了。自今年5月特朗普出手打击共和党同僚、参议员约翰·康yn（约翰·科宁）的初选连任以来，两人之间的裂痕愈发扩大，而特朗普大声疾呼要求参议院“解除阻挠议事规则”的要求，也遭到了这位共和党领袖的一再拒绝。
“就我而言，沟通更多是按需进行的，”当被问及近期与总统的对话情况时，图恩对CNN说道。
如今，两人之间日益明显的不和，让图恩在国会的许多共和党同僚感到焦虑——这些议员都在为今年11月岌岌可危的多数席位而奋力防守。
尽管两人私下从未亲近过，性情温和的图恩行事风格与善变好斗的总统截然不同，但据参议员和知情人士透露，在特朗普第二任期伊始，两人的沟通频率要高得多。当时，特朗普常会称赞图恩作为参议院共和党领袖推进其议程的领导力，即便在自己与总统意见相左时，比如针对煽动性的社交媒体帖子，或是有损南达科他州选民利益的全面关税政策，他也常常会选择隐忍。
但共和党消息人士称，在私下谈话中，图恩对特朗普的态度非常直接，会坦率地解释参议院能做成和做不成的事，这与其他无论要求多么不合情理都会听从总统命令的共和党人截然不同。
近期紧张局势升级，特朗普公开抨击图恩对参议院的管理。特朗普煽动“让美国再次伟大”（MAGA）阵营的共和党人对这位共和党领袖表达愤怒，要求其通过总统的“拯救美国法案”——尽管参议院早已否决了这项投票限制法案。
特朗普还不断让图恩措手不及：先是取消了一项住房法案的签署仪式，而共和党本急于在这个由住房负担能力问题主导的选举年推动该法案；随后又破坏了延长关键监控权限的努力。特朗普暂时搁置了自己提名的国家情报总监人选，甚至还抛出一项18亿美元的“反武器化”基金，打乱了参议院快速批准数百亿美元移民执法经费的计划，这一问题至今仍困扰着共和党议程。
其结果就是持续数月的“内部火力交叉”：约十二名与MAGA阵营结盟的共和党人明确站在特朗普一边，大多数参议院共和党人支持图恩，而许多人都困惑不已——党内内讧本已让中期选举的艰难环境雪上加霜。
“我想说，我们都渴望与白宫建立更和谐的合作关系，”犹他州共和党参议员约翰·柯蒂斯说道。
“内讧实在无益，”西弗吉尼亚州共和党参议员吉姆·贾斯蒂斯表示，他明确支持总统的议程，但也承认参议院席位狭窄的局限性。“没完没了地兜圈子毫无意义。”
贾斯蒂斯警告称，如果两位领导人无法达成共识：“你得当心，局势会变得越来越糟，因为我们会丢失席位，这对总统来说也会更不利。”
据共和党参议员透露，随着林赛·格雷厄姆参议员的去世，两人之间的鸿沟只会进一步扩大。格雷厄姆既是特朗普的高尔夫球友，也是图恩的密友，据一位参议员透露，他是两人之间的“关键纽带”。
“我们本应宣扬政绩，谈论民主党有多疯狂，但我们却在互相捅刀子，”这位参议员说道。
随着参议院即将从本周末开始进入为期五周的休会期，两人的关系正迎来一个转折点。特朗普要求参议员们在离会之前通过他的“拯救美国法案”。但即便只是安排一场注定会失败的投票，也会占用宝贵的议事时间——因为参议院正忙于完成其他重大议题，比如格雷厄姆的俄罗斯制裁法案，以及一项将政府拨款延长至12月的临时支出法案。
最棘手的问题在于：特朗普要求通过繁琐的预算程序推进其议程，这一举措将允许他以简单的党派投票方式，推动一项涉及伊朗战争和选举限制的数十亿美元更大规模法案。但据图恩透露，参议院共和党人在提案内容上仍存在严重分歧，这意味着该提案也无法获得通过参议院所需的50票。
图恩本周的首要任务是确保政府拨款在9月30日之后继续到位。但特朗普及其核心圈子更倾向于利用这一预算策略通过其余议程——尽管他们党内许多人对此表示反对。
包括白宫办公厅主任苏西·怀尔斯和预算主任拉斯·沃伊特在内的白宫高级官员，一直在向参议员施压，要求他们本周推进一项预算决议。但据参会消息人士透露，在上周与沃伊特举行的闭门午餐会上，数位共和党参议员对白宫的要求提出了反对。
许多共和党人站在图恩一边，尤其是因为这一繁琐程序将需要进行一系列冗长的投票——国会山称之为“投票狂欢”——涉及敏感政治议题，而面临连任压力的参议员们都急于避开此类投票。
“我认为这在现实中行不通，”阿拉斯加共和党参议员丽莎·穆尔科斯基在被问及预算决议投票时说道。“我不确定深夜举行的‘投票狂欢’加上诸多政治敏感议题，是今年面临连任的许多议员真正期待的。因此，我也质疑这一做法的政治智慧。”
特朗普对图恩及其共和党领导层的不满，得到了国会MAGA阵营的呼应。该阵营计划本周推动一项投票，阻止参议院夏季休会。据一位了解讨论情况的人士透露，约有十二名共和党人支持这一举措。
与特朗普结盟的参议员、参议院预算委员会主席罗恩·约翰逊警告图恩，如果参议院在未按特朗普要求通过预算程序议程的情况下休会，那将是“一个巨大的错误”。
“我们的支持者不会对此满意，”约翰逊告诉CNN。
但大多数参议员都意识到，取消八月休会并不能让特朗普的更多议程获得通过，因为共和党没有足够票数实现总统的目标。
图恩的许多盟友认为，如果民主党在中期选举中大胜并夺回参议院多数席位，特朗普是在将图恩塑造成替罪羊。
周四，当CNN问及特朗普是否试图将他当作替罪羊时，图恩只是耸耸肩：“我不知道。”
但就在前一天，当被问及图恩是否仍适合担任该职位时，特朗普明确拒绝给予他信任投票。
“走着瞧吧，我会告诉你的，”总统说道。
图恩随即反驳道：“他不参与我们的选举投票。”
白宫拒绝就特朗普与图恩的关系置评，转而提及总统此前对这位参议院共和党领袖的批评言论。
共和党参议员表示，此次内讧还有另一个重要原因。图恩不得不表达党内许多人的观点——这些人不同意总统的看法，但因害怕遭到报复而不敢直言。这些议题包括特朗普要求废除参议院的传统和规则，这些规则赋予少数党权力，比如阻挠议事规则，以及所谓的“蓝色意见书”制度，允许少数党对某些下级法院提名和美国检察官人选拥有发言权。
图恩得到了许多参议院共和党人的支持，他已告诉总统他们不会这么做——尤其是在阻挠议事规则方面，他们称未来一旦参议院沦为少数党，仍需要这一工具来阻止民主党法案通过。
“这就是事实，我们不会‘解除’阻挠议事规则，”图恩在谈及这项需要60票才能打破的拖延战术时说道。
而特朗普打击两名共和党参议员的决定加剧了紧张局势，尤其是在康yn的得克萨斯州席位如今因特朗普有争议地提名肯·帕克斯顿为候选人而面临失守风险的情况下。
俄克拉荷马州参议员詹姆斯·兰克福德将特朗普的不满归咎于他作为长期企业高管的快节奏行事风格。
“他对任何事都不满意。‘我能做出更好的高尔夫球杆，我能打造更好的酒店’，”兰克福德说道。“他总是在推动。”
但当被问及两位党魁意见不合是否有益时，兰克福德表示：“图恩和总统可以解决这些分歧。困难之处在于，总统希望像企业高管那样快速推进。但我们是立法部门，行动不会那么快。”
CNN的摩根·里默、艾莉森·梅因和亚当·坎恩对本文亦有贡献。
‘We are knifing each other’: Trump and Thune showdown splinters GOP unity ahead of midterms
2026-08-02T10:30:26.242Z / CNN
House Speaker Mike Johnson sometimes can’t get President Trump off the phone. The calls can come in the middle of the day — or the dead of night — or even after hourslong meetings at the White House, the Louisiana Republican often tells associates.
But across the Capitol, the same can’t be said for the other top GOP leader: Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
It can be days, if not weeks, that Thune doesn’t hear from the president. Thune instead mostly learns about Trump’s latest grenade roiling the GOP agenda or the broadsides directed at the Senate majority leader himself from Truth Social and the media.
During the latest high-stakes stretch in the Senate, with Trump’s own Cabinet nominee in trouble, the president’s election-year agenda teetering and a huge Iran funding bill in doubt, Thune told CNN he hadn’t spoken to the president in nearly two weeks. The split between the two has only widened since Trump moved to take out fellow Republican, Sen. John Cornyn, in his primary in May, and as the president has loudly insisted that the Senate nuke the filibuster — a demand the GOP leader has repeatedly rejected.
“With me, it’s more on an as-needed basis,” Thune told CNN when asked about his conversations with the president as of late.
Now, the increasingly apparent dissonance between the two men is fueling anxiety for many of Thune’s fellow Republicans in Congress, who are defending fragile majorities that are both in play this November.
While the two have never been personally close, with the mild-mannered Thune far different in style than the mercurial and combative president, they were in much more frequent communication at the start of Trump’s second term, according to senators and people who know both. Trump would frequently praise Thune’s leadership as the Senate GOP leader ushered through his agenda and often bit his tongue when he disagreed with the president, whether it was about an incendiary social media post or a policy like sweeping tariffs that hurt his constituents in South Dakota.
Yet in their private talks, Thune uses a very direct approach with Trump, bluntly explaining what can and cannot be accomplished in the Senate, GOP sources say, far different than other Republicans who tend to follow the president’s orders, no matter how implausible.
Tensions have grown in recent weeks, as Trump has publicly taken shots at Thune’s stewardship of the chamber. Trump riled up MAGA Republicans to direct their ire at the GOP leader to pass the president’s “SAVE America Act” — even though the Senate has already rejected the voting restrictions bill.
And Trump has consistently blindsided Thune, whether it was pulling the plug on a signing ceremony for a housing bill that Republicans were eager to champion in an election year dominated by affordability concerns or blowing up efforts to renew key surveillance powers. Trump temporarily sidelined his own nominee for director of national intelligence and even threw a wrench into plans for the Senate to quickly approve tens of billions for immigration enforcement by announcing a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, an issue that still complicates the GOP agenda.
The result has been a circular firing squad that has persisted for months, with roughly a dozen MAGA-aligned Republicans siding squarely with Trump, most other Senate Republicans in Thune’s corner, and many perplexed that the infighting is making a difficult midterm election environment even more challenging.
“I would say we’re all longing for a relationship with the White House where we work more in harmony,” said Sen. John Curtis, a Utah Republican.
“The infighting is not really productive,” said GOP Sen. Jim Justice of West Virginia, making clear that he supports the president’s agenda, but acknowledging the limits of a narrowly divided Senate. “There’s no point in going round and round and round.”
And if the leaders can’t get on the same page, Justice warned: “If you don’t watch out, you’re gonna make things much, much, much worse because we’re gonna lose seats and that will make it worse for the president.”
The gulf is only set to widen with the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham, an ally and confidant of both men, according to GOP senators. Graham, a golf partner of Trump’s and a very close friend of Thune’s, was a “linchpin” between the two, one of the senators said.
“We need to be talking up the wins, talking about how crazy Democrats are, and instead we are knifing each other,” the senator said.
The relationship between the two men is poised to hit an inflection point as the Senate stares down a five-week recess beginning at this week’s end. Trump has demanded that his “SAVE America Act” pass before senators leave. But even setting up a certain-to-be-doomed vote would eat up precious floor time as the chamber scrambles to finish other big-ticket items, such as Graham’s Russia sanctions bill and a stopgap funding measure to keep the government open until December.
Complicating matters the most: Trump’s demand to move his agenda through the unwieldy budget process, a move that would allow him to advance a larger package of billions for the Iran war and election restrictions along straight party lines. Yet there remains sharp disagreement among Senate Republicans on what the proposal should look like, meaning it also lacks 50 votes to pass the Senate, according to Thune.
Thune’s chief priority this week is keeping the government open past September 30. But Trump and his inner circle are far more intent to pass the rest of his agenda using that budget maneuver – despite the objections of many in their own party.
Senior White House officials, including White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and budget director Russ Vought, have been pressing senators to advance a budget resolution this week. But in a closed-door lunch with Vought last week, several GOP senators pushed back at the White House’s demands, according to sources in the room.
Many Republicans side with Thune, especially since the cumbersome process would require a marathon series of votes – known on Capitol Hill as a “vote-a-rama” – on politically charged issues that vulnerable senators are eager to avoid.
“I don’t believe that it is realistically possible to do it,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the Alaska Republican, when asked about voting on the budget resolution. “I’m not sure that a late-night vote-a-rama with a lot of political hot buttons is what a lot of members who are up this year are really looking forward to. So, I question the political wisdom as well.”
Trump’s frustration with Thune and his GOP leadership team are shared by the MAGA wing in Congress, which is planning to force a vote this week that would prevent the Senate from adjourning for the summer. Roughly a dozen Republicans support it, according to one person briefed on the discussions.
Trump-aligned senators, like Senate Budget Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, warn Thune that it would be an “enormous mistake” to adjourn without acting on Trump’s demand to move his agenda through the budget process.
“Our supporters wouldn’t take kindly to it,” Johnson told CNN.
But most senators recognize that canceling the August recess wouldn’t get more of Trump’s agenda done, since Republicans don’t have the votes to accomplish what the president wants.
Many of Thune’s allies believe Trump is setting him up to be the fall guy if Democrats rout in the midterms and flip the Senate.
Asked by CNN on Thursday whether he thinks Trump is trying to make him a scapegoat, Thune simply shrugged his shoulders: “I don’t know.”
But it was just a day earlier when Trump pointedly refused to give Thune a vote of confidence when asked whether he’s still the man for the job.
“Well, we’re going to find out and I’ll let you know,” the president said.
Thune responded with his own retort: “He doesn’t vote in our elections.”
The White House declined to comment on Trump’s relationship with Thune, instead referring back to the president’s prior critical comments about the Senate GOP leader.
GOP senators say there’s another big reason for the fallout. Thune is forced to express the views of many in his conference who disagree with the president but are afraid to speak out over fears of reprisal. Those issues include Trump’s demands to eliminate Senate traditions and rules that give power to the minority party, such as the filibuster and the so-called blue slips to grant it a say on certain lower court nominees and US attorney picks.
Thune, backed by many Senate Republicans, has told the president they won’t do it — particularly over the filibuster, a tool they say they’ll need one day in the Senate minority to block Democratic bills.
“It’s just a fact, we’re not going to nuke the filibuster,” Thune said of the stall tactic that requires 60 votes to overcome.
And Trump’s decision to go after two Senate Republicans exacerbated tensions, especially since Cornyn’s Texas seat now is at risk of flipping with Trump’s controversial pick of Ken Paxton as the nominee.
Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma chalked up Trump’s frustrations to his fast-paced nature as a long-time business executive.
“He’s not content with anything. ‘I can make a better golf club, I can make a better hotel,’” Lankford said. “He’s always pushing.”
But asked if it’s productive for the two party leaders to be in disagreement, Lankford said: “Thune and the president can work out the differences on that. The hard part is, the president wants to be able to move fast like an executive can move. But we’re a legislative branch, we don’t move that fast.”
CNN’s Morgan Rimmer, Alison Main and Adam Cancryn contributed to this report