New reports suggest President-Elect Donald Trump is beginning to no longer trust the establishment gun lobby like he used to. According to a report by The New York Times, Trump is losing faith in the National Rifle Association.
Per the New York Times, NRA First Vice President Bill Bachenberg revealed in a letter, “I can say for a fact that President Trump and his most inner circle have lost faith in the NRA.” Bachenburg added, “I communicate with them often. We have a tremendous amount of work to rebuild trust with them, just like our members and donors.”
One of the major issues making Trump reticent about working with the NRA has been the amount of money the NRA has paid William A. Brewer III for his legal services. Brewer is a Dallas-based attorney whose political contributions have largely gone to Democrats in recent years.
If this speculation is true, the growing distrust between Trump and the NRA would be a radical departure. The NRA previously endorsed Trump during the 2016, 2020, and 2024 presidential election cycles.
Should these rumors prove to be true, Trump should consider the alternative of aligning himself with more principled pro-Second Amendment organizations. After all, the NRA has a long track record of selling out gun owners.
Starting in the New Deal era, the NRA backed the 1934 National Firearm Act — the very first comprehensive gun control package passed at the federal level. This law slapped heavy taxation and large regulatory hoops on machine guns, sawed-off shotguns, and silencers. The sell-outs continued well into the 1990s with the passage of the Brady Act of 1993. Thanks to the Brady Act, millions of Americans must be subject to unconstitutional background checks under the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
The disgraced former NRA CEO and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre praised the NRA for its alleged role in establishing NICS. “The best kept secret is that the national instant check system wouldn’t exist at all if it weren’t for the NRA,” he boasted.
Similarly, the NRA has provided cover to lousy politicians such as Texas State Representative Jeff Leach by endorsing them despite having sketchy voting records on gun rights.
The last 4 years have not been so kind to the NRA. New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against the establishment gun organization in 2020 claiming that then-NRA Executive Wayne LaPierre used millions of dollars in donor money to live a lavish lifestyle unrelated to the organization’s mission. James described the NRA a “terrorist organization” while she led a legal campaign to financially bleed it. During this legal ordeal, the NRA has been forced to spend at least $100 million in legal fees to push back against James’ persecution.
Throughout the last decade, the NRA’s membership has fallen significantly. Per internal documents, NRA membership had plummeted from 5.5 million to 4.3 million. Some insiders claim the NRA’s current membership has fallen to roughly 3 million. In a similar vein, the NRA’s political spending dropped from $54,398,558 in 2016 to $29,355,400 in 2020, according to OpenSecrets.
Overall, the NRA is in a sticky situation on all fronts. This, along with it turning to a known Democratic Party supporter for legal help, has likely made Trump grow more distrustful of the NRA. If Trump sours on the NRA, he should gravitate more towards real, no compromise gun lobbies such as Texas Gun Rights.
In some cases, he is already doing so. Trump recently tapped Dave Warrington, former chairman of the National Association for Gun Rights, as his top White House lawyer for the incoming administration. Far superior to the NRA by almost every metric, NAGR has stood firmly against tyrannical government infringements on the 2nd Amendment, and Warrington himself headed the organization’s lawsuit against a ban on forced-reset triggers.
Not only have organizations like TXGR and NAGR endorsed Trump, but they will keep his administration honest by identifying subversive actors within his administration and Republicans who try to undermine his legislative agenda. Trump does not need corrupt organizations nor sycophantic organizations who say positive things about him but end up betraying him when it matters most.
The no compromise pro-gun advocacy network has grown significantly over the last decade thanks to the overwhelming success of Constitutional Carry in red states. While the NRA flounders, the no compromise movement is on the rise. With Republicans holding a trifecta at the federal level, there’s a unique opportunity for Trump to leave behind a transformative pro-gun legislative legacy.
The first step must take to secure this legacy is to abandon the establishment gun lobby and fully embrace the cutting edge no compromise movement that is working day-in-and-day out to restore the Second Amendment.
