Booker says signs of GOP unease with Trump are just beginning over anti-weaponization fund

WASHINGTON, DC: Amid the growing discontent within the GOP over several of Trump’s policies, particularly the anti-weaponization fund, Democratic Senator on Sunday, May 31, predicted that he sees more Republicans breaking with Trump.

Senator Cory Booker’s sharp criticism came during his appearance on ABC’s ‘This Week,’ where he said that President Donald Trump's policy agenda to grow after his administration's recent push to create a $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund, and other actions might push Republicans away.

Booker claims GOP rift over anti-weaponization fund

The remarks come amid signs of growing friction within the GOP, with Trump-backed challengers recently unseating multiple Republican incumbents in primary races, including Sens Bill Cassidy and John Cornyn.

Booker said he has discussed the matter with some of his Republican colleagues and criticized Trump for putting himself at the centre of the anniversary of the nation's founding  

Asked about the possibility of more GOP pushback, Booker said he was "absolutely expecting" it.

"In private conversations ... Republicans will express how aghast they are at the behavior," Booker said. "The president took one of our sacred memorials to an assassinated president and slapped his name on it. What's next? The Trump-Lincoln Memorial? God bless America."

Booker accuses Trump of tearing democracy down

"We fought a revolution to stop exactly this -- a ruler from taking public funds and doing whatever they want with no checks and balances," Booker told ‘This Week’ co-anchor Jonathan Karl. "This president is giving us a master class in our own democracy by tearing it down."

"This is the problem with Trump. He’s a divider-in-chief," Booker said.

"What I’m hoping people are seeing in this is not his intention, but reminding us what American history has always been about. It’s been about the power of the people being greater than the people in power."

Court blocks formation of fund over legal challenges

The Trump administration has recently proposed an anti-weaponization fund in exchange for the settlement of the president's $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over the leak of his tax returns.

The program is designed to compensate Americans whom the Justice Department determines were victims of political "lawfare" and government abuse under previous administrations.

However, the formation of the fund was temporarily suspended by the court on Friday, May 29, following legal challenges.

In a separate ruling, a federal judge ordered Trump's name to be removed from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

“We are going to be working with Congress to transfer this failing Institution back to them so they can decide as to what to do with it," Trump wrote in a post on Friday as he bashed the decision on social media.