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Senate Republicans Plot Their Revenge on Trump

After the president helped end the careers of two of their own, many in the Senate G.O.P. feel he’s broken their political contract. Now, instead of constantly bowing to the executive branch, they’re agitating to fight, or at least stand up for themselves.

Donald Trump
President Donald Trump in Florida, March 2026. Photo: Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images
Leigh Ann Caldwell
May 31, 2026

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Senate Republicans, after years of unblinking deference to Donald Trump, are returning to Washington this week with a newfound spirit of resistance. It’s not just that the president blindsided them by announcing his $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” slush fund. It’s also a sense that Trump effectively broke their political contract when he took out two of their own: Sen. Bill Cassidy, who voted to convict Trump on impeachment charges after January 6, and especially Sen. John Cornyn, who had the temerity to suggest, in 2023, that the party should find a new standard bearer.