'Unchained' Republicans brace to derail Trump until Dems take over: report

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a press briefing at the White House, January 20, 2026. REUTERS Nathan Howard

There’s stupid … and then there’s special stupid — and President Donald Trump’s spite is framing him up to be the latter, said former Bulwark editor-in-chief Charlie Sykes.

For example, with Trump’s razor-thin majority in the Senate and Democrats threatening to take both the Senate and House in November, you’d think Trump would do everything he could to keep his barely-majority gang happy and on his side. But that’s not what he did, said Sykes.

“This week, Trump crossed an invisible line, and for the first time in the Trump Restoration, GOP senators and reps seem genuinely p—— at the president; and willing to break with him on issues that Trump cares about deeply,” said Sykes. “Liberated by his defeat, Bill Cassidy cast the decisive vote on the War Powers resolution on Iran, announced he would vote against Trump’s billion-dollar ballroom, called Paxton a ‘felon,’ and said that he might actually start holding RFK Jr. accountable.”

In fact, the GOP Senate — as a whole — officially killed the ballroom funding. House Republicans also cancelled a vote on Trump’s Iran war and also scrapped a big reconciliation bill that Trump was looking forward to. Sykes pointed out that Republicans even descended on Acting AG Todd Blanche (Trump’s former personal defense attorney) and bushwhacked him, with roughly 25 GOP senators openly opposing Trump’s weaponization fund.

“You know you’ve reached a new level of clusterfuqqery when you lose Tommy Tuberville and Ron Johnson,” said Sykes, adding that the sudden backbone could evaporate — or it could become something much worse for the president.

“It is also possible that it could do lasting damage,” said Sykes. “The GOP has a 53-47 majority, but the number of ‘unchained,’ or free-range Republicans keeps rising. As right-wing talker, Erick Erickson, wrote: ‘Between Cassidy and Cornyn, the President’s agenda is going to be DOA in the Senate now. Add in Tillis, McConnell, etc., and why would they bother a heavy lift for Trump?’”

Sykes notes that journalist Issac Saul recently said that Trump “basically just nuked his Senate majority for the next months.” And up to 10 venomous and bitter GOP senators now qualify as “reasonably qualified to be ‘Trump-skeptical.’”

It would be a shame, said Sykes, if Trump found his agenda deep-sixed by his own team until Dems storm the Senate and House and bury it for good in November, as polls suggest they will.

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