'Retaliation is real': Why senators who stood up to Trump caved to his 'needlessly cruel agenda'

07 July

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) at the 2023 Turning Point Action Conference in Palm Beach, Florida (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)

When the U.S. Senate voted on President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" — which he signed into law over the 4th of July Weekend — Vice President JD Vance broke a 50-50 tie and brought the "yes" votes up to 51.

GOP Senators Josh Hawley and Lisa Murkowski were highly critical of the bill's draconian Medicaid cuts, and a "no" vote from either of them would have doomed the bill. But they voted "yes" in the end despite their criticisms.

In a biting opinion column published on July 7, the New York Times' Frank Bruni cites Hawley and Murkowski as examples of GOP lawmakers acting like "terrified prey" when Trump turned up the heat.

"For months before Hawley fell meekly in line last week," Bruni laments, "he sought and got enormous attention for being a holdout, a maverick, someone willing to tell the president uncomfortable truths and determined to prove that the MAGA movement really was looking out for the little people. His fist was once again clenched, his arm once again raised, this time in defense of the health insurance on which so many less privileged Americans depend…. He sounded like a warrior — and a masculine one, at that! — manning the barricades. Which, inevitably, he abandoned."

Bruni continues, "The arc of Republican lawmakers in the Trump era bends toward complete submission. That's the posture in which Hawley and other Senate Republicans granted the president his financially reckless and needlessly cruel agenda."

Only three GOP senators voted against Trump's megabill: Maine's Susan Collins, Kentucky's Rand Paul and North Carolina's Thom Tillis, who isn't seeking reelection in 2026.

Bruni argues that comments from Murkowski at an event back in April speak volumes about GOP senators' submission to Trump. Murkowski acknowledged, "We are all afraid…. I'm oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice, because retaliation is real. And that's not right."

Bruni observes, "There's an inverse relationship between this bill's mammoth scope and the care with which it was put together. Most lawmakers didn't sweat the details. That's because they were sweating about something else: Trump's wrath. He wanted a sweeping signature behemoth, he wanted it fast, and he would not hesitate to punish any lawmaker who prevented that from happening….. Trump ended up getting Murkowski's vote."

The Times columnist continues, "Sure, that happened after the legislation was tweaked in ludicrous ways to lessen its negative impact on Alaskans, but even so, Murkowski looked and sounded stricken by her decision."

Frank Bruni's full New York Times column is available at this link (subscription required).

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