Trump charms GOP rebels at Mar-a-Lago, with Musk in tow

Donald Trump is working to smooth over roadblocks to his massive legislative agenda this weekend at his Florida resort, starting with a lavish dinner Friday night with some of Speaker Mike Johnson’s biggest antagonists.

Members of the House Freedom Caucus encountered a lively and positive atmosphere at Mar-a-Lago, according to three Republicans familiar with the meeting. Billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk also made an appearance, posing for pictures with several lawmakers, they said.

“Unity was a huge part of the meeting,” said one of the Republicans. It also served as “an open forum for member’s ideas on cuts and reconciliation,” the person added, referring to the pending push from Trump and Johnson to assemble “one big, beautiful bill” addressing border security, energy production, and tax cuts, as well as massive spending offsets to keep it from exploding the deficit.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) notably attended. A chief GOP rebel, Roy recently clashed with Trump, who called for a more loyal Republican to challenge him in his next primary.

According to photos of the dinner posted on social media, other attendees included Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.), Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) — who threatened to block Johnson from the speakership last week before changing his vote under pressure from Trump.

Unity among the fractious House GOP conference will be a key factor for Trump and Johnson, with any single Republican member potentially able to derail the entire legislative package.

“It was much more about a lot of members from the House Freedom Caucus who don’t get a chance to engage with President Trump — they got the opportunity last night,” said Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), a member of the group and close Trump ally.

“I think that kind of team building, camaraderie is really important because we have a heavy lift in front of us,” he added in an interview Saturday at the Republican Party of Florida’s quarterly meeting in Orlando. “It was really much more a fun, enjoyable dinner than a deep policy session.”

Beyond a general discussion on spending, Donalds said the group also talked about defense issues and China. The rapidly approaching debt ceiling was also discussed, he added, though the topic “didn’t come up much.” As expected, several Freedom Caucus members also said during the dinner that they prefer a two-track reconciliation strategy, citing urgency to tackle border security, according to one of the Republicans.

One Trump proposal got a chilly reception at the dinner: making Canada the 51st state.

“I said, ‘Mr. President, the Canadians, they are going to elect two Democrat senators; we don’t want that. Territory status isn’t too bad,’” Donalds told a group in Orlando.

Trump is set to meet with several other key House GOP factions later Saturday, including GOP lawmakers from New York, New Jersey and California who are pressing for an expansion of the state and local tax deduction, aka SALT.

House committee chairs will join Trump for dinner Saturday. He’ll host another cross-section of House Republicans, including leaders of the business-oriented Main Street Caucus, for dinner Sunday.