After some relentless bargaining by Abraham, God agreed to save Sodom from destruction for the sake of 10 righteous men.
Republicans are five senators shy of qualifying for the same deal.
Over the past two weeks, Trump’s iron grip on the Republican Party has begun to show signs of weakening. Some GOP lawmakers are doing something rare in the first year of his second term ― publicly rebuking the president and siding with Democrats to check his authority.
Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Rand Paul of Kentucky joined Democrats in supporting a requirement that the president consult Congress before taking additional military action in Venezuela. Those three have challenged Trump before. But this time, they were joined briefly by Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Todd Young of Indiana. They were eventually bullied back into the fold, but their defection, though brief, is notable.
As is the pointed public criticism from another Trump loyalist, North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, of the Justice Department’s criminal probe of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who has resisted Trump’s demands to slash interest rates more rapidly. Tillis called it “another example of amateur hour.”
A significant group of Republicans are joining Democrats in opposition of Trump’s threats to annex Greenland, chiding him for threatening a U.S. ally.
It’s hardly a rebellion. But it might be a leading indicator that GOP politicians are worried Trump will cost them their offices in this fall’s midterm election. They have reason to fret. Trump’s base seems less convinced of his infallibility.
A president who promised not to entangle them in foreign wars has attacked Venezuela, bombed Nigeria, Syria, Somalia, Yemen and Iran and is threatening military action against Colombia.
Heavy-handed round-ups of undocumented immigrants and tariffs that are inflating the cost of consumer goods are also troubling some Republicans. And the president’s backsliding on the promise to make public all of the Jeffrey Epstein files is seen as a betrayal by those on the right who expected a bombshell that would hold the pedophile’s elite pals accountable.
Polls suggest riding with Trump all the way to the midterms may not be a smart strategy. A survey commissioned by The Detroit News and WDIV Local 4 News measured Trump’s approval rating in Michigan, a state he won in 2016 and 2024, is holding steady at 44.5%.
But there are red flags. Forty-eight percent of state voters say Trump has made the economy worse, and 38% give his economic performance a grade of “D” or “F.” Trump ran on fixing the economy.
Trump’s base has always loved him because he did what he said he would do. Now he’s doing a lot of things he said he wouldn’t do, and it’s cutting into that intense loyalty.
Expect more GOP politicians whose fates are tied to Trump this fall to start looking for ways to distance themselves from the chaos of his administration.
Nolan Finley’s columns appear in The Detroit News. Sign up for the Nolan Out Loud morning report.
