Behind the Curtain: The cost of blind loyalty

Axios Axios —

https://www.axios.com/politics-policy/donald-trump" target="_blank">President Trump trained elected Republicans to obey him, even when they disagreed.

  • Elected Republicans trained Trump to expect obedience, even as his demands grew impossible to satisfy.

Why it matters: Years of Republicans submitting to Trump, often against their own judgment, have curdled into a rolling crisis as Washington nears the likely end of the GOP's two-year monopoly.

The big picture: Trump has spent his second term steamrolling his own party, confident the lawmakers he humiliates will keep voting his way.

You see it everywhere:

Between the lines: Trump is governing like a https://www.axios.com/2026/04/25/trump-republicans-polls-midterms-approval" target="_blank">term-limited president with little patience for Congress, few concerns about the midterms, and an insatiable appetite for executive power.

What we're hearing: The first sustained check on Trump's second-term power is coming from https://www.axios.com/2026/06/24/trump-senate-republicans-save-act-cassidy" target="_blank">rebellious GOP senators, especially those whose careers he cut short for insufficient loyalty.

  • Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), beaten in a Trump-backed primary, was initially among those https://apnews.com/article/senate-republicans-trump-vote-reject-war-powers-0f1fa8189c275188a71ed02cc8c3270d" target="_blank">voting to curb the president's Iran war powers.

    Trump and Cassidy got in a shouting match during a closed-door Senate lunch.

  • Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who chose retirement over a humiliating primary, has become the face of GOP resistance in the Senate — publicly savaging Trump nominees, opposing any move to weaken the filibuster and vowing to "do everything I can" to block the SAVE Act.
  • Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who voted with Trump 99% of the time before Trump backed a primary challenger anyway, joined Tillis and Cassidy in refusing to advance attorney general nominee Todd Blanche over concerns about the "anti-weaponization" fund.

Top Republicans tell us Trump's response — lashing out ineffectively — could be a preview of how he'll play his cards over the next 2½ years as his power wanes.

  • He'll technically be a lame duck after November's midterms.

    A favorable midterm environment could hand Democrats the House, even with Republicans' redistricting edge.

    The Senate is in play, too.

  • "The Senate is now behaving like the Senate," said a longtime Trump ally who knows Congress well. "More to come.

    If he loses the Senate, his presidency will be effectively over.

    Yet he's acting like it doesn't matter."

Axios' Zachary Basu contributed reporting.

https://www.axios.com/2026/06/25/trump-america-politics-maga-socialism-israel" target="_blank">Go deeper: "America's great political implosion."

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