President Donald Trump salutes as an American flag is raised on a new flagpole installed on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., June 18, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
President Donald Trump and his MAGA allies continue to boast about his recent primary successes, but according to a new report from Politico, others in the GOP are growing concerned these wins are at best "mirages," and at worst, "self-owns."
Trump is coming off a string of wins and shows of strength after several primary candidates he endorsed defeated incumbent Republicans whom he had deemed to be enemies or disloyal. In Indiana, Trump-backed candidates defeated several state-level lawmakers who broke with the party and voted against a new gerrymandered map. In the last week, his endorsed candidates defeated GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy and Rep. Thomas Massie in their respective primaries, clearing the way for a congressional GOP even more subservient to Trump.
All those wins, however, might very well prove to be hollow, with a Wednesday Politico report arguing that "the revenge tour is increasingly imperiling Trump’s midterm agenda on the Hill."
"That’s because for every apostate ousted by Trump this month, there’s a sign of not only his waning political capital on the Hill, but that his backward-focused endeavors have damaged his own legislative ambitions, leaving him a victim of his own primary success," Politico explained.
One anonymous "senior Senate Republican operative" who spoke with Politico about the situation went so far as to call these Trump victories a "mirage," as they are not actually racking up wins that matter against Democrats, and all the while, Trump's unpopular leadership and agenda are running rampant.
“Those so-called victories over the last couple weeks are just a mirage. They are self-owns,” the operative said. “We’re not actually beating Democrats, and we’re not actually advancing legislation. Instead, gas is up 45% due to our actions and the President’s decision to go to war with Iran. He’s focused on the ballroom. He’s announced a $1.8 billion restitution fund with zero details or congressional authority to do so. It just is crazy.”
As a consequence of Trump's war with incumbent Republicans, they increasingly seem willing to break with him in more substantial ways.
"In just one day, a conquered — and, consequently, unbridled — Sen. Bill Cassidy joined Democrats to become the 50th yes vote on a war powers resolution, opposed Trump’s ballroom funding in reconciliation and called Trump’s freshly picked Paxton a 'felon,'" Politico continued. "And that was just day three of Cassidy unchained."
It added: "Cassidy is not alone. Trump’s ballroom funding is stalled, the SAVE America Act is mired in the Senate and Majority Leader John Thune is pushing back on his desire to fire the parliamentarian. That’s not to mention the pushback even from the likes of the friendlier senator from Louisiana, John Kennedy, who expressed doubt about the Justice Department’s $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund."
Rep. John Cornyn of Texas might now "join their ranks" as well, after Trump made the bombshell 11th-hour decision to endorse the controversial Ken Paxton over him in the Texas GOP Senate primary. Paxton has long been viewed as a much more MAGA-friendly candidate, but also a candidate more easily beatable by surging Democratic nominee James Talarico.
“What is the return on investment for Trump?” Greg Lamantia, a Texas businessman and Cornyn backer, told Politico about Trump’s endorsement. “I don’t understand why you take this risk, versus sitting back and doing nothing. Now you’ve created an enemy for six months, when you have a razor-thin majority.”
A Senate win in Texas by Democrats would greatly increase their odds of flipping the chamber's majority in the midterms, a feat once seen as impossible this year. Politico noted that, in such an eventuality, this week could be seen in hindsight "as the week where he overreached."
“It seems to me his agenda is mostly vengeance,” former GOP Sen. Jeff Flake Arizona, who became a vocal Trump critic after opting against reeleection back in his first term. “It’s not just those that he’s going after he’s gonna have to deal with — Massie and Cornyn and Cassidy — it’s anybody who’s gotten past the filing deadline, or past their primary, and realizing that supporting a lot of what he wants is not good for the general election.”