Knives are officially out for Republican lawmaker James Lankford. Donald Trump and his allies are waging a campaign to vilify the senator from Oklahoma for his role in crafting the border security and foreign aid bill that members from both parties have spent months deliberating. The negotiations, as of right now at least, appear to have been for naught. “I would anticipate Wednesday the cloture vote does not pass,” Lankford conceded Monday evening.
The bill would grant Republicans many of its long-held immigration demands—along with tens of billions of dollars in funding for border security and aid to Ukraine—but the former president, who maintains massive influence on the GOP, has privately pressured Republicans to oppose it, fearing that its passage might help Joe Biden win reelection. Meanwhile, in public, Trump has framed his opposition as policy-oriented, while at the same time working to turn Lankford into a toxic quantity.
First elected in 2014 and having won reelection in 2022, Lankford’s seat in Congress is safe for now. Still, Trump has not ruled out the prospect of backing a primary challenge to Lankford should he attempt to retain his seat in 2028. “I think this is a very bad bill for [Lankford’s] career, especially in Oklahoma,” Trump said during a Monday interview with conservative talk show host Dan Bongino. “Nobody’s going to be happy about this [immigration deal], but the people in Oklahoma are, these are serious MAGA, these are serious people. They are not going to be happy.… This is lunacy, this bill.”
In the same interview, Trump sought to erase his prior support for Lankford, falsely saying, “Just to correct the record, I did not endorse Senator Lankford. I didn’t do it. He ran, and I did not endorse him.” In fact, Trump offered his “complete and total endorsement” two years ago during Lankford’s general election campaign—a gesture perhaps more symbolic than beneficial in glaringly red Oklahoma. At the time, Trump even described Lankford as “strong on the border” and “strongly committed to America First, and everything it stood for, and likewise strongly committed to me.”
Some Trumpworld media personalities have suggested that Lankford should face congressional censure and otherwise be made an example of. “Lankford must be politically destroyed for this border bill,” wrote conservative radio host Jesse Kelly in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “It’s important for other GOP senators [to] see [Lankford’s career] end because of this.”
For his part, Lankford has defended the bill and questioned the motives of Trump and the Republication members who oppose it. “Some will have legitimate issues [with the bill]…but some are backing away also based on politics of the moment,” he told CNN on Tuesday.
He has also acknowledged the bill’s likely demise, telling reporters Monday evening that the timing wasn’t right. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell seems to agree with this assessment: On Monday, McConnell privately recommended that Republicans vote against the bill should it receive a cloture vote Wednesday, according to Punch Bowl News. At least 19 Republican senators have issued statements against the draft agreement, according to The Hill; others have said they need more time to review its language, which was finalized on Sunday. In the House, top Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, have warned the bill would be dead on arrival if they are given the chance to vote on it.
The roughly $118 billion package would allocate $60 million in funding for Ukraine and $20 billion in border security funds. Other would-be aid recipients include Taiwan and Israel. The bill would also narrow the standards that migrants need to reach to qualify for asylum, provide the president with new emergency powers to pause asylum processing if migrant crossings reach a rolling weekly average of more than 5,000, and put an end to the humanitarian parole of migrants waiting for their asylum claims to be heard in court, a practice that critics refer to as “catch and release.” Trump’s congressional allies are particularly opposed to a provision in the bill that would make it easier for some migrants to receive work permits.
Nevertheless, despite constant demands from Republicans to mitigate migration—so much so that they argued Washington shouldn’t give Ukraine another dime until it cracks down on border crossings—the bill appears doomed in its current form. “This is the new Republican line on the border: it’s an emergency, but it can wait 12 months or until the end of time,” Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech Tuesday. “What utter bunk.”