#mcconnell — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

Chuck Darwin @[email protected] · 2026-05-22 · 20:30 UTC

GOP’s YOLO caucus could be trouble for Trump agenda

In a Republican-led Congress defined by deference to Donald Trump, there’s a small but steadily growing cohort who have found themselves more willing to break with the White House.
Although the president maintains a firm grip on Republican voters, the expanding club could hinder his agenda on everything from the Iran war to immigration funding at a moment when his party holds a tenuous majority on Capitol Hill.
Sen. Bill #Cassidy of Louisiana is the newest member of the club.
Just days after losing his primary to a Trump-backed challenger, Cassidy on Tuesday reversed himself on legislation involving the war in Iran and voted with Democrats to rein in U.S. military action.
“The way our Constitution is set up, Congress should hold the executive branch accountable,” he told reporters the day before.
Sen. John #Cornyn of Texas could be next after Trump endorsed Ken Paxton, Cornyn’s rival for the Republican nomination in next week’s runoff.
Rep. Thomas #Massie of Kentucky is perhaps a founding member of the YOLO caucus — slang for “you only live once,” used to punctuate unbothered or even foolhardy behavior.
He frustrated Trump since the president’s first term, and his status was solidified after losing his primary on Tuesday to a Trump-backed challenger.
Massie has enraged Trump by voting against his signature tax and spending bill and by pushing for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
He hinted there’s more to come before he leaves office.
“I got seven months left in Congress,” Massie said with a grin during his concession speech as the crowd erupted.
Other similarly situated Republicans include Sen. Thom #Tillis, who was a fierce critic of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and has more recently turned his attention to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
There’s also Sen. Lisa #Murkowski of Alaska, who joined Democrats last week in a bid to curb Trump’s war powers in Iran.
Sens. Susan #Collins of Maine and Mitch #McConnell of Kentucky have voted against some of Trump’s Cabinet picks.
And in the House, Rep. Don #Bacon of Nebraska has pushed to reclaim congressional power over tariffs.
“If the legislative branch always votes with the president, we do have a king,” Massie said in his concession speech Tuesday.
This hardly amounts to a revival of the Never Trump movement that some Republicans unsuccessfully hoped would curb the president’s excesses during his first term or block him from returning to office.
Many in the party, including Trump’s occasional detractors, have either stood by or been unable to block the president as he launched the war in Iran and presided over an aggressive immigration enforcement operation and the dismantling of the federal workforce.
Today’s unencumbered Republicans don’t fit into an ideological box.
But they are united by a sense of emboldening that can be attained in only a few ways in Trump’s Washington.
Many, like Tillis, McConnell and Bacon, have decided to retire and can cast votes knowing they’ll never again have to face Republican primary voters.
Others like Collins and Murkowski have more leeway because they represent states that tend to reward political independence.
And some like Massie banked on the idea that voters could support both Trump and someone who occasionally crossed him.
It’s a paradox for Trump.
As he demands total loyalty and pushes out Republican dissenters, he’s left with a growing cohort who, for one reason or another, owe Trump nothing.
That could be a problem for Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson,
who are already governing with threadbare majorities.
Shifting loyalties of even a few Republican lawmakers could dramatically complicate the ability for either chamber to pass substantial legislation ahead of the November midterm elections.
Thune called Cornyn a “principled conservative” and “very effective senator” on Tuesday.
“None of us control what the president does,” he said.
The next tests could come later this week as Thune pushes a funding package for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection designed to pass on a party line basis.
https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?guid=4018a46d-2bd5-4f4e-ad82-a07a2a3ee630&v=sdk

#cassidy #cornyn #massie #tillis #murkowski #collins

Chuck Darwin @[email protected] · 2026-05-22 · 20:30 UTC

GOP’s YOLO caucus could be trouble for Trump agenda

In a Republican-led Congress defined by deference to Donald Trump, there’s a small but steadily growing cohort who have found themselves more willing to break with the White House.
Although the president maintains a firm grip on Republican voters, the expanding club could hinder his agenda on everything from the Iran war to immigration funding at a moment when his party holds a tenuous majority on Capitol Hill.
Sen. Bill #Cassidy of Louisiana is the newest member of the club.
Just days after losing his primary to a Trump-backed challenger, Cassidy on Tuesday reversed himself on legislation involving the war in Iran and voted with Democrats to rein in U.S. military action.
“The way our Constitution is set up, Congress should hold the executive branch accountable,” he told reporters the day before.
Sen. John #Cornyn of Texas could be next after Trump endorsed Ken Paxton, Cornyn’s rival for the Republican nomination in next week’s runoff.
Rep. Thomas #Massie of Kentucky is perhaps a founding member of the YOLO caucus — slang for “you only live once,” used to punctuate unbothered or even foolhardy behavior.
He frustrated Trump since the president’s first term, and his status was solidified after losing his primary on Tuesday to a Trump-backed challenger.
Massie has enraged Trump by voting against his signature tax and spending bill and by pushing for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
He hinted there’s more to come before he leaves office.
“I got seven months left in Congress,” Massie said with a grin during his concession speech as the crowd erupted.
Other similarly situated Republicans include Sen. Thom #Tillis, who was a fierce critic of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and has more recently turned his attention to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
There’s also Sen. Lisa #Murkowski of Alaska, who joined Democrats last week in a bid to curb Trump’s war powers in Iran.
Sens. Susan #Collins of Maine and Mitch #McConnell of Kentucky have voted against some of Trump’s Cabinet picks.
And in the House, Rep. Don #Bacon of Nebraska has pushed to reclaim congressional power over tariffs.
“If the legislative branch always votes with the president, we do have a king,” Massie said in his concession speech Tuesday.
This hardly amounts to a revival of the Never Trump movement that some Republicans unsuccessfully hoped would curb the president’s excesses during his first term or block him from returning to office.
Many in the party, including Trump’s occasional detractors, have either stood by or been unable to block the president as he launched the war in Iran and presided over an aggressive immigration enforcement operation and the dismantling of the federal workforce.
Today’s unencumbered Republicans don’t fit into an ideological box.
But they are united by a sense of emboldening that can be attained in only a few ways in Trump’s Washington.
Many, like Tillis, McConnell and Bacon, have decided to retire and can cast votes knowing they’ll never again have to face Republican primary voters.
Others like Collins and Murkowski have more leeway because they represent states that tend to reward political independence.
And some like Massie banked on the idea that voters could support both Trump and someone who occasionally crossed him.
It’s a paradox for Trump.
As he demands total loyalty and pushes out Republican dissenters, he’s left with a growing cohort who, for one reason or another, owe Trump nothing.
That could be a problem for Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson,
who are already governing with threadbare majorities.
Shifting loyalties of even a few Republican lawmakers could dramatically complicate the ability for either chamber to pass substantial legislation ahead of the November midterm elections.
Thune called Cornyn a “principled conservative” and “very effective senator” on Tuesday.
“None of us control what the president does,” he said.
The next tests could come later this week as Thune pushes a funding package for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection designed to pass on a party line basis.
https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?guid=4018a46d-2bd5-4f4e-ad82-a07a2a3ee630&v=sdk

#cassidy #cornyn #massie #tillis #murkowski #collins

Chuck Darwin @[email protected] · 2024-10-03 · 02:13 UTC

Senators are privately (and publicly) saying they hope Donald Trump
💥stays out of the internal election to replace #Mitch #McConnell as Senate GOP leader.

Why it matters:
None of them know — or it's a damn good secret — whether the felon-candidate will make an endorsement.

But senators and advisors fear a Trump intervention could turn the secret ballot leader election into a public feud.

"I said, 'Sir, if I was you, I would stay out of the race, because there's no win for you in this,'" Sen. #Markwayne #Mullin (R-Okla.) told us about a recent call with Trump.

"I hope not," said Sen. #Thom #Tillis, when asked if he thinks Trump will weigh in. "I think outside influence could be problematic."

"He's offered some views on it to me,"Sen. #Josh #Hawley (R-Mo.) told us. "It's safe to say he has a pretty consistent prediction of who he thinks it'll be." -- Hawley said he did not know if Trump would weigh in.

Between the lines:
This the first real competitive Senate GOP leadership race of the Trump-era,
and his endorsement still carries a lot of weight with a segment of the conference.

McConnell has had a tumultuous relationship with the pussy-grabber.

The top two candidates
— Sens. John #Thune and John #Cornyn
— each have had rocky relationships with Trump.
However, they have worked to make amends.

After Jan. 6, Thune denounced Trump and initially endorsed Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) for president.

Cornyn has said the GOP needed to move on from Trump.

Senate sources do not talk about Sen. Rick #Scott's (R-Fla.) bid as seriously as Thune's or Cornyn's, though he has a good relationship with Trump.
"Sen. Scott is focused on dramatically changing the way the Senate operates and creating a member-driven process," according to spokesperson McKinley Lewis.

Sources often describe Thune as the likely favorite,
though they say not to discount how much Cornyn's long history of hard-dollar fundraising for Senate campaigns means to people.

Cornyn told us it's been a few weeks since he spoke with Trump about the leadership race.

But he visited Mar-a-Lago a couple months ago "to talk about planning for the future,"
adding they've been "visiting with some of the transition folks."

Mullin said Trump "likes" Thune despite their rocky past.

The Oklahoma Republican has publicly backed Thune.

Some sources suspect there could be a late entry:
NRSC Chair Steve #Daines (R-Mont.) is the most-floated name.

The bottom line:
There's not a lot of incentive for senators benefiting from both Thune and Cornyn's aggressive fundraising efforts to commit too early.

"If one of them felt that they really had a majority, I think they would not be shy about saying that,
but I don't think anybody does," Hawley said.

https://www.axios.com/2024/10/03/trump-senate-republicans-mcconnell-thune-cornyn

#mitch #mcconnell #markwayne #mullin #daines #thom