I have noted in several prior reports that Donald Trump seems to be losing his death grip on the Republican Party.
That was never more apparent than this week, as more than a dozen House members and a handful of senators voted with Democrats contrary to Trump’s wishes.
Trump, as predicted, is lashing out, but is that really the right strategy right now?
Most Republicans have supported Trump in his strikes against alleged drug boats and the ouster of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
However, even some of those lawmakers are looking to block Trump from any further military action against Venezuela.
On Thursday, a bipartisan resolution to block Trump from making additional moves in Venezuela passed by a margin of 52-47, with five Republicans crossing over.
The Republicans who sided against Trump were Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Todd Young of Indiana, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Of those, Young and Hawley were significant surprises.
The bigger problem for Trump right now is in the House, where more than 20 Republicans voted for a failed override of a pair of presidential vetoes issued earlier in the year.
The vote was technically a failure, but there is clearly some bad blood developing between Trump and several Republicans who used to be considered loyalists to the president.
Trump defended the vetoes of a water project in Colorado as well as of the expansion of territory for a Florida Indian tribe, stating, "My Administration is committed to preventing American taxpayers from funding projects for special interests, especially those that are unaligned with my Administration’s policy of removing violent criminal illegal aliens from the country. Ending the massive cost of taxpayer handouts and restoring fiscal sanity is vital to economic growth and the fiscal health of the Nation.”
Since these bills both passed with significant bipartisan support, the question always centered on just how many Republicans had the backbone to stand up to Trump and override the vetoes. It clearly was not enough to get the required two-thirds majority, but it was still a rather significant number.
Trump is pretty predictable on this front, even though his bullying tactics are working less and less these days. As the vote was taking place, Trump commented, “This Vote greatly hampers American Self Defense and National Security, impeding the President’s Authority as Commander in Chief.”
The president then added his belief that the senators should be “ashamed” of themselves and “should never be elected to office again.”
I just don’t agree with this approach, and I never will. Not every member of the GOP is going to agree with every policy, and I think Trump needs to work things out and understand their positions rather than immediately going into venom mode and trying to remove them from office.
Trump needs to start thinking about the big picture because we don’t have the numbers to play games like this. Do you want someone in a seat who will disagree with you from time to time while still holding the majority, or would you prefer losing outright control to Democrats? Because if Trump keeps alienating Republicans, we are going to lose both the House and Senate, and I don’t even want to entertain what that means for conservatives in this country.
