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It's going to be a slaughter.

Trump gets his payback, but it comes at a cost in
congress

republican senators are angry the president is
working to unseat their colleagues. But he is also
creating more free agents in his own party in
congress willing to defy him.
Listen · 8:51 min

after losing his primary race to a trump-backed
challenger, senator bill cassidy, republican of
louisiana, voted with democrats in support of a
measure to limit the war in iran. Credit... Kenny
holston/the new york times
carl hulse

by carl hulse

reporting from the capitol
may 20, 2026
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republican senators, boiling mad over president
trump's intervention in g. O. P. Primaries that
has cost one incumbent his seat and left another
hanging by a thread, say mr. Trump has chosen
personal revenge over governing.

Six months out from a midterm election in which
their majority is at stake, senate republicans
face a difficult legislative path with a rising
number of restless lame-duck senators and a
growing sense that the president cares much less
about accomplishments that could boost them in
november than about protecting himself and
settling his political scores.

It comes as republicans already face a grim
political environment made worse by mr. Trump's
decisions to pursue a war in iran that has driven
up gas prices and impose tariffs that have led to
higher costs for companies and consumers — all
while continuing to demand loyalty from lawmakers
whose political survival may depend on distancing
themselves from him.

"i'd say the mood is pretty sour, " senator lisa
murkowski, republican of alaska, said as she
digested mr. Trump's late-stage decision to snub
senator john cornyn, the veteran texas republican
and former member of the party leadership who
faces a challenging primary on tuesday, and
endorse his opponent.

Ms. Murkowski, who herself has broken from the
president in the past, noted that mr. Cornyn and
senator bill cassidy, the louisiana republican
defeated in saturday's primary at the president's
behest, will remain senators until jan. 3 no
matter what. That means the white house must still
contend with the current senate, not the more
maga-infused republican conference that mr. Trump
hopes to see seated next year.
Image
senator lisa murkowski, republican of alaska, at
the capitol on tuesday. Credit... Haiyun jiang/the
new york times

"there are still many, many weeks, many months,
before the election, and this president is going
to have to continue to deal with and partner with
or battle with this group of lawmakers, " ms.
Murkowski said of herself and her fellow
republicans. "the president may have just opened
some opportunities for people. "

the first evidence of such a change in course
emerged immediately on tuesday when mr. Cassidy —
who had drawn mr. Trump's ire with his 2021 vote
to convict him at his impeachment trial — for the
first time voted with democrats challenging the
president's power to wage war against iran without
congressional approval.

Numerous senate republicans, including mr.
Cassidy, also raised objections to the $1 billion
in federal funding sought by the white house to
secure mr. Trump's pet white house ballroom
project, prompting leaders to drop it from their
major immigration crackdown bill in a defeat for
the president.

Some republicans are also questioning the justice
department's plan for a special fund to compensate
mr. Trump's allies, people whom the president
claims were unfairly punished for participating in
the 2021 assault on the capitol and pushing
election denialism.

Top republicans called mr. Trump's moves
particularly ham-handed considering he needs his
party almost entirely unified in the coming weeks
to accomplish the bulk of what senate republicans
are trying to do: muscle through contentious
immigration enforcement spending on party-line
votes as well as confirm executive branch and
judicial nominees without democratic help.

They say he is getting his retribution at the risk
of legislative success.

Mr. Trump himself seems unbothered and confident
in his actions, and is threatening to go even
further, warning other republicans against
crossing him even as he needs their votes on key
issues.

On wednesday, he singled out representative brian
fitzpatrick, a pennsylvania republican who is
running for re-election in a competitive district
and who joined democrats last week in voting for a
resolution to limit the war in iran.
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"he likes voting against trump, " the president
told reporters. "you know what happens with that?
It doesn't work out well. "
image
president trump endorsed senator john cornyn's
primary opponent in the texas senate race.
Credit... Kenny holston/the new york times

mr. Fitzpatrick, whose vote will most likely be
needed to push through the party-line immigration
measure, had also raised alarms about including
the ballroom funding in that bill, as well as mr.
Trump's plan to use the federal settlement money
to pay people who claim to be victims of
government persecution.

Should mr. Cornyn lose on tuesday, he would join
the informal free-agent republican caucus with mr.
Cassidy and senator thom tillis, the north
carolina republican who decided not to seek re-
election last year after coming under withering
assault from mr. Trump. He has been a thorn in the
president's legislative side ever since.

Other charter members of the group include senator
susan collins, the maine republican who is in a
difficult re-election fight and, like ms.
Murkowski, frequently weighs breaking from her
party. It remains to be seen whether the unrest
with the president within the g. O. P. , where
lawmakers have often expressed discomfort with mr.
Trump only to accede to his wishes, is enough to
cause a rash of dissent. But in the senate, four
defections on any party-line issue are enough to
defeat it.

Senators said they would have to see how mr.
Cornyn's primary plays out next week, as well as
the willingness of senators to defy the president,
to gauge the true ramifications of his
intervention.

But they said mr. Trump could carry the day in
checking names off his enemies list only to see
his victory backfire when it comes to getting his
way on capitol hill.

"it goes back to the old 'be careful what you wish
for, '" mr. Tillis said.

He predicted that those no longer encumbered by
the need to placate the president could alter
their voting patterns.

"i think there will be fewer political
calculations going into people's decision-making
process, " he said. "look, we want to support the
president every time it is good policy and good
politics and never when it is either bad policy or
bad politics or both. "

allies say that senator john thune, the south
dakota republican and majority leader who sought
to persuade mr. Trump to either endorse mr. Cornyn
or stay out of the race, was steamed by the turn
of events given that a primary win by mr. Cornyn's
opponent, attorney general ken paxton, could put
the texas seat in danger.

Still, mr. Thune said he hoped to hold republicans
together in their common cause.

"we are a team and you win as a team, you lose as
a team, " he said. "and the sooner you figure that
out, the better off you are. "

yet mr. Trump has not appeared to be interested in
fostering unity within his party in recent weeks,
and particularly not on capitol hill, where his
move against mr. Cornyn was seen as a slap at mr.
Thune and the other senate institutionalists whom
he and his supporters have characterized as weak
and ineffectual.

Both mr. Cornyn and mr. Cassidy had made
concessions to try to stay in the president's good
graces. Mr. Cassidy put aside grave reservations
and voted to confirm robert f. Kennedy jr. As
health secretary. Mr. Cornyn embraced eliminating
the filibuster as demanded by the president.

But neither could overcome what the president
considered personal slights, including mr.
Cassidy's vote to convict him on charges arising
out of the jan. 6, 2021, attack on the capitol and
mr. Cornyn's lukewarm reaction to mr. Trump's
return as a presidential candidate after his
defeat in 2020.

Vice president jd vance, their former senate
colleague, threw gas on the simmering senate fire
on tuesday when he said during the white house
briefing that mr. Trump thought mr. Paxton was
"going to be a better senator" than mr. Cornyn.

Mr. Vance, who served a brief fellowship with mr.
Cornyn's office on the judiciary committee in
2011, also said that mr. Trump prefers "people who
can't be bought by corporate lobbyists, who can't
be bought by wall street, who can't be bought by
special interests. "

that was too much for ms. Murkowski, who called
the scandal-singed mr. Paxton "corrupt. "

"that is so disappointing, " she said of the vice
president's comments. "john cornyn, oh my
goodness, in terms of an upstanding individual — a
lawmaker, a former judge — i can't think of anyone
who is just, again, more upstanding. "

michael gold and megan mineiro contributed
reporting.
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