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outsidethebeltway.com: https://outsidethebeltway.com/trumps-revenge-tour-comes-with-a-price/

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GDELT news · original
Published
Thursday, May 21, 2026

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Trump’s Revenge Tour Comes With a Price – Outside the Beltway Search for: Outside the Beltway About Archives Policies Register Login Contact US Politics World Politics National Security Democracy Business Law Media Technology Entertainment Trump’s Revenge Tour Comes With a Price The Republican Honey Badger Caucus is getting bigger. James Joyner · Thursday, May 21, 2026 · 7 comments Official White House Photo by Patrick B. Ruddy In “ Trump Gets His Payback, but It Comes at a Cost in Congress ,” veteran NYT chief political correspondent Carl Hulse reinforces a point I’ve been making here for a while. Republican senators, boiling mad over President Trump’s intervention in G.O.P. primaries that has cost one incumbent his seat and left another h

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Trump’s Revenge Tour Comes With a Price – Outside the Beltway Search for: Outside the Beltway About Archives Policies Register Login Contact US Politics World Politics National Security Democracy Business Law Media Technology Entertainment Trump’s Revenge Tour Comes With a Price The Republican Honey Badger Caucus is getting bigger. James Joyner · Thursday, May 21, 2026 · 7 comments Official White House Photo by Patrick B. Ruddy In “ Trump Gets His Payback, but It Comes at a Cost in Congress ,” veteran NYT chief political correspondent Carl Hulse reinforces a point I’ve been making here for a while. 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. The tradeoff has always seemed obvious. Granting that many of the Republican incumbents whom Trump has helped oust are in “safe” seats, it’s a huge waste of resources. Any President in my lifetime holding a razor-thin margin in both Houses would be laser-focused on protecting Republican incumbents and nominating the Republican most likely to be able to defeat Democrats in winnable contests. But, of course, most Presidents care mostly about enacting their policies into law. Trump has done almost none of that this go-round. Further, as was also obvious, he’s done himself harm in the short term, creating bitter enemies who have nothing to lose the rest of this Congress. “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 sea

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