The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has once again brought chaos to the heart of the Republican Party. A closed-door lunch with senators from his own party ended this Wednesday in a shouting match over the Iran war, after several Republicans supported a resolution to limit his war powers and demand more congressional oversight over military intervention.
The toughest clash was with Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who had voted with Democrats to stop the war and demanded explanations for an intervention that, he said, was supposed to last four weeks and has already accumulated four months. Trump ordered him to sit down several times and even called him a "lunatic", according to sources present at the meeting. Cassidy responded by also raising his tone and defended that he would continue to vote in favor of limiting war powers until he received sufficient information.
From setback to nocturnal rescue
The argument had an effect a few hours later. The United States Senate overturned a new resolution on war powers that night by 47 votes in favor, 50 against, and one abstention, just one day after having approved a similar measure against Trump's strategy in Iran. Cassidy changed his vote after a meeting at the White House with US Vice President, JD Vance, and special envoy Steve Witkoff. Republican Senator Rand Paul, another critic of the war, this time chose to vote "present" to give the president more negotiating room.
Trump celebrated the result on his social media and highlighted the change in position of Cassidy and Paul. The vote avoided a new parliamentary setback for the White House, although it exposed the internal cracks of Trumpism in an unpopular war, with growing doubts among some Republicans about the objectives, cost, and duration of the intervention against Iran.
The tension is not limited to foreign policy. Trump has also blocked the signing of a housing bill approved with broad bipartisan support and has conditioned it on Congress pushing his electoral reform, the so-called SAVE America Act, which requires proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. Several Republican senators have admitted that this bill does not have enough votes to pass, but the president insists on making it an absolute priority before the midterm elections.
The episode leaves an uncomfortable image for Republicans. While part of the party tries to talk about cost of living and housing, Trump forces another battle over Iran, the vote, and his personal authority within the Senate. The House saved his vote at night, but the price was a new display of shouting, internal threats, and discipline imposed by blows from the White House.
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