Donald Trump on Monday demanded that Senate Majority Leader John Thune immediately fire Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, escalating a fight over who controls the rules inside the Senate. Trump said MacDonough treats Republicans and everything they stand for horribly, and he tied his demand to a ruling that stripped money from a major budget bill.
The clash landed on the same day a jury convicted Dmitriy Popov of manslaughter as a hate crime in the 2023 killing of O'Shae Sibley, a reminder of how many separate headlines were competing for attention. But Trump’s post was the one aimed squarely at the Senate, and it was the second time he had lashed out at MacDonough, whose rulings can erase provisions from budget reconciliation bills if they fall outside the Byrd rule.
MacDonough recently struck $1 billion in Secret Service funding from a $72 billion budget reconciliation bill, including an estimated $220 million for construction of Trump’s White House ballroom. She ruled that the money fell outside the Judiciary Committee’s jurisdiction over immigration enforcement plans, a determination that undercut what Trump described as a proposal that would have been approved by anyone else.
Trump said MacDonough should be removed because she was appointed by a Democrat and caters to Democrats. He also warned that the SAVE AMERICA ACT would never get approved while she remains in the job, putting the dispute directly on the path of a bill Republicans want to move through Congress.
Thune’s office pushed back without conceding the broader fight. A spokesperson said, “Redraft. Refine. Resubmit. None of this is abnormal during a Byrd process.” That response drew a sharp contrast with Trump’s demand for immediate removal, and it suggested Senate Republicans may still try to work around MacDonough’s rulings rather than upend the post itself.
The argument matters because the parliamentarian is not a symbolic figure. MacDonough can decide whether provisions survive the fast-track budget process, and her ruling on the Secret Service money showed how one nonpartisan referee can reshape a package that otherwise had the votes to move. For now, Trump has made clear he wants the referee gone. Thune has not said he will do it.
