President Donald Trump spent his Friday night rage-calling Republican senators who had the audacity to vote for congressional oversight of his Venezuela military ambitions, threatening to end their political careers.
WHAT’S GOING ON: Five GOP senators—Josh Hawley, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Susan Collins, and Todd Young—crossed the aisle Thursday to advance a war powers resolution that would require Trump to get congressional approval before sending troops to Venezuela.
According to NBC News, Trump responded by personally calling each of them to threaten primary challenges.
Two sources described the calls as “direct but cordial.” But with Collins, Trump apparently dropped the cordiality—he “sharply criticized her and raised his voice.” Collins, a six-term senator up for re-election this year, claims she won’t let Trump’s tantrum influence her decisions.
THE DETAILS: Trump also took to Truth Social to publicly blast the five senators, declaring they “should never be elected to office again.” He called their vote “stupidity” and claimed the War Powers Act is unconstitutional—a position that conveniently ignores decades of legal precedent.
“This Vote greatly hampers American Self Defense and National Security, impeding the President’s Authority as Commander in Chief,” Trump wrote, apparently furious that anyone would suggest a president should ask Congress before starting a war.
OF COURSE: Some of the targeted senators immediately bent the knee. Hawley told NBC News, “I love the president. I think he’s doing a great job,” and signaled he might flip his vote when the resolution comes up for final passage this week. So much for that principled stand.
WHY IT MATTERS: This is textbook authoritarianism: a leader threatening retribution against members of his own party for exercising basic constitutional oversight. The War Powers Resolution exists precisely because the Founders understood that one person shouldn’t have unchecked power to send Americans to die in foreign conflicts.
Thursday’s vote was just a procedural motion—the real test comes when the Senate votes on final passage, and we’ll see how many Republicans remember they swore an oath to the Constitution, not to Donald Trump.