Trump Dominates in Primaries as Capitol Hill Flouts Him
After vanquishing multiple Republicans in primaries for having crossed him in the past, President Donald Trump is still as dominant as ever with his party’s electoral base. But are his battles with incumbent Republicans costing him power on Capitol Hill?
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Trump is on a hot streak with primary challenges.
Last weekend, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, placed third in the Senate primary, with Trump-backed challenger Rep. Julia Letlow advancing to the runoff round.
On Tuesday, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a libertarian-leaning House rebel who has defied Trump on key votes, lost by nearly ten points to the Trump-endorsed Ed Gallrein. Massie has been in the House since 2012.
But Trump didn’t stop there.
On Wednesday, he endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to take the Senate seat of incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn, paving the way for the die-hard Trump loyalist to become the Republican nominee after the May 26 runoff.
By targeting multiple incumbent senators from his own party, Trump is engaging in a style of politics unheard of since 1938, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt supported multiple challengers against senators in a bid to reshape the Senate.
However, it was also a week of trouble on Capitol Hill, where the Republican-controlled Congress defied the president.
On Tuesday, shortly after losing his primary, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., voted to advance a resolution to restrain the president’s power to use military force against Iran.
The resolution advanced 50-47, with four Republicans voting for it: Cassidy, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Susan Collins of Maine.
Additionally, Congress failed to advance a party-line budget reconciliation bill which would have injected funds into border security.
Instead, the Senate broke for recess until June, as Republicans were divided over whether to support funding for security at the White House’s East Wing, where the president is attempting to build a ballroom.
Again, Cassidy played a role in this debate, refusing to support the funding.
“I think this is a spit-in-the-eye insult to all my taxpayers in Louisiana to spend a billion on a ballroom when we should be doing something about the high price of gas, groceries and health care,” he said Tuesday.
He was not the only member of the Senate’s growing retirement caucus to be in opposition.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who announced his retirement in July shortly after the president called for a Republican to challenge him in his primary, has been a staunch opponent of the funding.
“I’ve got a lot of questions that need to be answered,” Tillis told NOTUS of the funding.
“If I’m in the Democratic marketing department, I’m probably thinking of a lot of ways I would use this to target senators that vote for it,” said Tillis, who added he thought “the timing and optics are really bad.”
Republicans were also unable to settle disagreements on the Department of Justice’s announcement of “anti-weaponization fund” as part of a settlement agreement in Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
The $1.776 billion fund is meant to “provide a systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare,” per the DOJ.
Tillis and Cassidy were opposed.
“I think it’s stupid on stilts,” said Tillis.
“People are concerned about paying their mortgage or rent, affording groceries and paying for gas, not about putting together a $1.8 billion fund for the president and his allies to pay whomever they wish with no legal precedent or accountability,” said Cassidy.
Trump has defended the fund, writing on Truth Social that he is forgoing money he could have received from the settlement.
“Instead, I am helping others, who were so badly abused by an evil, corrupt, and weaponized Biden administration, receive, at long last, Justice!” he wrote.
Republicans, unable to settle disagreements, decided not to hold any vote on their ambitious budget bill at all.
The House likewise went into recess, avoiding a vote on whether to restrain the president’s military power in Iran.
The growing flock of Republican lame ducks in the Senate defying the president could be a problem for the president going forward, given Republicans’ already slim majority.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., asked if the budget flop was related to Trump’s targeting of incumbents, replied, “I think it’s hard to divorce anything that happens here from what’s happening in the political atmosphere around us.”
On Friday, Trump lashed out at Tillis, whom he called a “weak and ineffective Senator,” but argued the Republican party will have a new start with the senator and his ilk gone.
“Now he can have all the fun he wants for a few months, with some of his RINO [Republican in name only] friends, screwing the Republican Party,” said Trump. “In the end it will only get bigger, and better, and stronger, than ever before!!!”
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I am just an average American. My teen years were in the late 70s and I participated in all that that decade offered. Started working young, too young. Then I joined the Army before I graduated High School. I spent 25 years in, mostly in Infantry units. Since then I've worked in information technology positions all at small family owned companies. At this rate I'll never be a tech millionaire. When I was young I rode horses as much as I could. I do believe I should have been a cowboy. I'm getting in the saddle again by taking riding lessons and see where it goes.
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