How 2 GOP senators are desperately fighting to 'remain in Trump’s good graces'

25 July

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks to the media, after a Senate GOP lunch, as Republican lawmakers struggle to pass U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping spending and tax bill, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 28, 2025. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon

In the 2026 midterms, many GOP incumbents in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives will be facing aggressive primary challenges from MAGA Republicans who say that they aren't MAGA enough.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), facing scathing criticism from President Donald Trump, decided not to seek reelection. And Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is up against a primary challenge from Iowa Republican Jim Carlin, who says she has "joined the swamp."

Two other incumbent GOP senators are contending with primary challengers as well: Texas' John Cornyn and South Carolina's Lindsey Graham. And MSNBC's Steve Benen, in a MaddowBlog opinion column published on July 25, argues that their latest anti-Barack Obama stunt shows they are "desperate to remain in Donald Trump's good graces."

Graham and Cornyn are calling for a special counsel to investigate former President Obama's handling of the 2016 Russia investigation, and Benen contends that their timing is no coincidence.

"Indeed, Cornyn and Graham have, in recent months, appeared eager to look for new and creative ways to impress the president, in the hopes of securing an endorsement," Benen explains. "It's against this backdrop that the Republican duo pitched an idea on Thursday, (July 24)…. The longtime GOP lawmakers, pointing to discredited claims from National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, (said) that 'the entire Russia collusion hoax was created by the Obama Administration to subvert the will of the American people.'"

Cornyn and Graham claim that a DOJ special counsel is needed "to investigate the extent to which former President Obama, his staff and administration officials manipulated the U.S. national security apparatus for a political outcome."

"The Russia scandal wasn't a 'hoax,'" Benen writes. "It wasn't 'created' by the Obama Administration. No one tried to 'subvert the will of the American people,' at least not until after Trump lost in 2020….. Cornyn and Graham, in other words, appear to have brazenly lied about details they really ought to understand…. I won't pretend to be able to read Graham's and Cornyn's minds, but it's hardly outlandish to think these guys are really concerned about their 2026 primary races."

Benen adds, "As for whether there might be a spectacularly unnecessary special counsel investigation anyway, the Republican base probably shouldn't get its hopes up: NBC News reported that the White House isn't overly fond of the idea, fearing that such a probe would take control of the story away from Trump's Justice Department."

Steve Benen's full MSNBC column is available at this link.

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