Donald Trump's purge of his detested 'Republicans in Name Only' risks backfiring after a freshly ousted senator went straight for the jugular, voting last night to clip the President's wings on the Iran war.
Cassidy's Defiance
Days after Trump ended his Louisiana tenure, Bill Cassidy backed a resolution curbing the President's war powers, his first anti-war vote since strikes were launched against Iran on February 28. The 50-47 vote saw Cassidy join Republican rebels Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky, shattering a GOP defense that had crushed seven previous attempts to rein Trump in.
Hours later, Trump-baiting libertarian Representative Thomas Massie was ousted in his Kentucky primary by White House-backed challenger Ed Gallrein, cementing his rebel status. 'I got seven months left in Congress,' Massie said with a grin during his concession speech.
Growing Alienation
It is the latest sign that Trump's demands for total loyalty are breeding a growing club of lawmakers alienated from the MAGA movement, capable of hamstringing his agenda given his tenuous majorities: 53-47 in the Senate and 217-212 in the House.
The mutiny isn't confined to war powers. Senate Majority Leader John Thune could hardly hide his fury on Tuesday after Trump endorsed scandal-plagued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over sitting Senator John Cornyn in next week's runoff. 'Senator Cornyn is a principled conservative. He is a very effective senator for the state of Texas,' Thune told reporters. 'But I don't, none of us, control what the President does.'
Murkowski said she was 'supremely disappointed', while Collins questioned why the President would back 'an ethically challenged individual.'
Other Rebels
And it's not just the Iran war which is spurring the rebels. Senator Thom Tillis was a fierce critic of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and has more recently turned his fire on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Collins and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky have voted against several of Trump's Cabinet picks. In the House, Don Bacon of Nebraska has pushed to reclaim congressional power over tariffs.
Midterm Headaches
Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson are facing growing headaches as they contend with razor-thin majorities widely expected to shrink in November's midterms. The sitting president's party has lost House seats in all but two midterm elections since World War II, shedding an average of 28 seats each time.
The next tests could come later this week as Thune pushes a funding package for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said after Cassidy's rebellion that Republicans were cracking up. 'Vote by vote, Democrats are breaking through the Republican wall of silence on Trump's illegal war,' Schumer said. 'It's now 80 days. Trump has dragged us into a costly war with no end in sight, that's costing Americans not only at the gas pump but in many other ways,' he told the Wall Street Journal.
House Vote Looms
Across the Capitol, the House is expected to vote on a similar war powers resolution Wednesday, and Democrats are bullish about their chances of passing it. Another war powers resolution barely failed in the House last week, the vote ending in a tie.
Even if Congress eventually passes legislation to compel Trump to withdraw from the conflict, it's not clear that he would comply. To circumvent requirements of the War Powers Resolution of 1973, the White House has claimed that it has technically ceased 'hostilities' with Iran because there is a ceasefire.
Trump this week said he ordered preparations for an attack on Iran on Tuesday, only to call it off to give allies in the Gulf more time to work out an agreement with Iran.
Frustration Builds
The stalemate is fueling Republican frustration ahead of the midterms as American families battle surging gas prices and inflation. Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota said he is supportive of Trump's decision to go to war, but that more Republicans are growing concerned about a long-term plan. The administration may have to go into more detail about that, Rounds said.
The War Powers Resolution of 1973 'does provide an avenue for that discussion and debate to occur,' the Republican said. Rounds said he believes it's not the right time to do that, and he would rather 'stand strong with the president' at this point. 'But I think a number of our members maybe just feel like it's time to have the debate.'
Earlier this year, Republican senators voted to advance a war powers resolution on the conflict with Venezuela and compelled the Trump administration to make its case to Congress for the military campaign. A handful of GOP senators forced a final vote on legislation to withdraw from the conflict. Two of them, Todd Young of Indiana and Josh Hawley of Missouri, ultimately flipped after Secretary of State Marco Rubio agreed to a public hearing about the administration's Venezuela strategy.
