U.S. President Donald Trump arrives for a "One Big Beautiful" event at the White House in Washington, DC., U.S., June 26, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
The increasing number of Congressional Republicans willing to publicly buck President Donald Trump suggests that his "iron grip" on the Republican Party is rapidly weakening.
That's according to a Saturday analysis by CNN's Aaron Blake, who reported on multiple recent instances of rebellion against the White House from House and Senate Republicans. In the Senate, Republicans Susan Collins, Josh Hawley, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul and Todd Young all voted with Democrats this week to curb Trump's ability to wage war in Venezuela. The president even reportedly lashed out at Collins in what one unnamed Senate Republican described to The Hill as a "profanity-laced rant" after learning of her vote.
"Republicans should be ashamed of the Senators that just voted with Democrats in attempting to take away our Powers to fight and defend the United States of America," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post after the vote. "Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young should never be elected to office again."
Republicans in the House of Representatives also publicly stiff-armed the administration this week by voting with Democrats on legislation to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits, which expired at the end of December and risk making health insurance premiums skyrocket for tens of millions of Americans. 17 Republicans voted with Democrats to fund the ACA credits, which Blake called "especially troubling for Trump."
"The subsidies were the crux of the government shutdown late last year, and Trump has resisted extending them. He has instead signaled a desire for a more GOP-friendly proposal," Blake wrote. "But Republicans seem to be losing patience and worrying greatly about the expiration of the subsidies blowing back on them in the midterms."
Additionally, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who is retiring at the end of this year, got the Senate to unanimously agree to install a plaque honoring Capitol Police officers who protected lawmakers on January 6, 2021. Blake wrote that the vote "came just days after Trump’s White House launched one of its most brazen efforts to rewrite the history of January 6 – effectively blaming the police for the riot in a factually ridiculous timeline released on the fifth anniversary."
"[T]he rebukes were symbolic on some pretty significant issues," he wrote. "And they provide growing evidence that Trump, whose power relies on the domination of his party, is losing his iron grip on it."
Click here to read Blake's full analysis for CNN.