By Emmanuel Bobby
President Donald Trump often advances ideas that make many Republicans uneasy, but rather than criticize him directly, party leaders increasingly say the problem isn’t Trump himself — it’s the advice he’s getting.
The reluctance to openly challenge Trump is not new, but in recent months Republicans have leaned more heavily on a familiar explanation: when Trump proposes controversial or unpopular policies, they argue he is either not serious or has been steered wrong by advisers. The approach allows them to distance themselves from his ideas without confronting him personally.
No lawmaker uses the tactic more frequently than Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Though he is not seeking re-election and is more willing than many colleagues to break with the president, Tillis still often criticizes Trump indirectly.
Tillis has blamed “bad advice” for Trump’s positions on a potential U.S. takeover of Greenland, attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, criticism of Sen. Chuck Grassley over judicial confirmations and the pardon of Jan. 6 rioters.
“The president has been given bad advice, and whoever gave him bad advice should probably not be in that role,” Tillis said last week when asked about Trump’s Greenland remarks.
The idea of seizing Greenland — against the wishes of many of its residents and Denmark, which administers the territory — is broadly unpopular among Republicans and even more so with the public. Yet GOP lawmakers have largely avoided criticizing Trump directly, instead insisting he is either joking or poorly advised.
House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana dismissed talk of military action as unrealistic.
“All this stuff about military action and all that, I don’t even think that’s a possibility,” Johnson said. “I don’t think anybody’s seriously considering that.”
Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota said Trump had been “trolling” the media, while Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana bluntly rejected the idea that the president was serious.
“Even a modestly intelligent ninth-grader knows that to invade Greenland would be weapons-grade stupid,” Kennedy said. “Now, President Trump is not weapons-grade stupid. They do not plan to invade Greenland.”
Trump, however, has continued to press the issue, saying Sunday, “One way or the other, we’re going to have Greenland.”
Trump’s firm grip on the Republican Party over the past decade has made open criticism politically risky. During his second term, that dynamic has been on full display as Trump floats proposals that clash with traditional conservative doctrine and even parts of his own MAGA base, leaving allies to blame unnamed forces for pushing him off course.
“America First is experiencing a hijacking right now,” said Paul Dans, the architect of Project 2025 and a challenger to Sen. Lindsey Graham in South Carolina’s GOP primary. Dans argued that Trump is “getting bad advice and is being kept in a bubble.”
The pattern surfaced late last year when Trump faced backlash over comments supporting expanded H-1B visas and suggesting Americans lacked certain skills. He also drew criticism from conservatives over early plans for broad tariffs, a policy long opposed by free-market Republicans.
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky directly blamed Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro.
“It’s not the president,” Paul said in April. “Navarro is a protectionist. He thinks tariffs are good and that trade is bad, and so he’s wrong on the issues.”
A White House official defended Trump’s economic agenda, saying the administration is focused on easing affordability pressures and using every available tool to do so.
Trump’s clashes with the Federal Reserve have also put allies in a difficult position. Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio said Trump’s decision to appoint Jerome Powell as Fed chair in 2018 wasn’t the president’s fault.
“Sometimes you make bad decisions and are given bad advice,” Moreno said. “And President Trump was obviously given bad advice by somebody he trusted.”
Trump has repeatedly pressured Powell to cut interest rates further and has threatened to remove or sue him, despite the Fed’s independence. After Powell revealed that the Justice Department opened an investigation into renovations at the Fed’s headquarters, Tillis warned that the credibility of the Justice Department was at risk. Still, he stopped short of blaming Trump.
“The president’s obviously trying to back up a decision that, at the time, he knew nothing about,” Tillis said.
In recent weeks, Trump has also floated a range of economic proposals aimed at addressing high prices, including a widely criticized 50-year mortgage plan. Allies again pointed to bad advice from housing officials.
Some proposals — such as capping credit card interest rates at 10%, restricting institutional investors from buying single-family homes and directing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to invest heavily in mortgage bonds — echo ideas long promoted by progressives. Trump’s discussions with Sen. Elizabeth Warren on interest rate caps have alarmed Republicans.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota suggested the president was being steered in the wrong direction.
“He may be getting advice on some of those issues, like the 10% cap on credit cards,” Thune said. “I don’t know where that came from.”
While many Republicans continue to argue that Trump would make better choices if surrounded by the right advisers, others see a different pattern.
In a closed-door House Judiciary Committee deposition last month, special counsel Jack Smith said his investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election found that Trump routinely rejected information that contradicted his desired outcome.
“The president got information from people he trusted,” Smith said. “He rejected it whenever it didn’t fit him staying in office. There was a pattern where any information that meant he could no longer be president was dismissed.”
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