REPUBLICANS ARE learning that, occasionally, you can say “no” to Donald Trump. On May 18th his administration announced a $1.8bn fund to compensate victims of government “lawfare”—read, a slush fund for allies—provoking fury among some Republicans.
“Utterly stupid, morally wrong” was how Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky described it. “I call it a payout pot for punks,” said Thom Tillis, a senator from North Carolina. The uproar has derailed progress on one of the president’s other priorities: a long-awaited $70bn immigration-enforcement bill.
Such defiance is new. Since Mr Trump returned to office, Republican lawmakers have bent to his will, backing crackpots for cabinet posts and giving him free rein on everything from tariffs to military action. Now, bracing for big losses in the midterms, some Republicans are beginning to push back against the president, whether out of principle or in an effort to limit the political damage he has caused.
Others may simply want revenge. On May 26th John Cornyn of Texas became the latest sitting senator to lose a primary to a Trump-backed challenger. He will remain in office for another seven months—plenty of time to settle scores.
There are nine lame-duck Republican senators, many of whom have long-running feuds with the president. Mr McConnell, for example, has called him “a despicable human being”. Mr Tillis announced his retirement less than 24 hours after incurring Mr Trump’s wrath for voting against his “Big Beautiful Bill”.
Together with moderates from states that reward political independence, they form a kind of YOLO caucus. Whether liberated by retirement or insulated by local politics, they no longer fear MAGA voters enough to fall obediently into line.
And given Republicans’ slim congressional majorities, it would not take many defections to bring Mr Trump’s agenda to a standstill.
