Former GOP stronghold dismantles itself in pursuit of Trump loyalty

President Donald Trump has managed to humiliate and disempower the House Freedom Caucus, which for a decade was one of the most influential groups in the House of Representatives, even to the point of toppling powerful House speakers.

“The House Freedom Caucus, a group of former congressional rebels who have over the past few years evolved into Trump lackeys, is on the verge of total irrelevance,” wrote The Bulwark’s conservative commentator Joe Perticone on Tuesday. “In a scenario where House Republicans become the minority, the caucus will lose whatever semblance of leverage it has, and current members know it; half a dozen of them will be leaving Congress at the end of the year.”

Perticone then pointed out how the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) — despite occasionally standing up to Trump on issues like releasing files about the president’s friend, the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who is accused of facilitating a situation in which Trump allegedly sexually abused a 13-year-old girl — has folded to Trump on a number of occasions.

“HFC holdouts caved to support Mike Johnson’s speakership bid, which has since yielded few accomplishments for the caucus,” Perticone wrote. “HFC members voted for a continuing resolution to fund the government despite many of them having long opposed the practice on principle. Despite feigning hardline opposition, HFC members voted to significantly increase the federal deficit by supporting the Senate’s version of Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ reconciliation package.”

Perticone pointed out that, because of this string of capitulations, “it has prompted a running joke in the Capitol Hill press corps that they’d be better described as the House Folding Caucus.”

He added, “The self-neutering has been remarkable. The entirety of the caucus’s power comes from its ability to stall important votes on must-pass legislation, knowing that party leadership needs them to be brought on side for that legislation to pass out of the chamber. Under Trump, they’ve surrendered that influence. In the event of a Democratic wave election, they will lose it completely.”

Perticone then quoted various House Freedom Caucus members, including Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), waxing nostalgic of the days when they were in the minority and had more power.

“When they did [lose the House] back in 2018, you saw the Freedom Caucus—saw a number of us—who were really engaged on the weaponization of government and all the oversight work we did,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) told Perticone. He later pointed out that when you’re “in the minority, you’re trying to craft a message and push back on all the crazy policies that the Democrats—or the left—are trying to do. I think that’s the key element in this campaign . . . pointing out all the crazy positions they have, and we’re for the common-sense position.”

As one sign of their diminished power, Perticone pointed out that “at least six members—and four former members who’ve already left the group—are not seeking re-election. In addition, one member and one former member resigned during the 119th Congress. There are currently 32 HFC members at this moment, well below the high of 45 it had in 2022.”

Perticone is not the first commentator to highlight the Freedom Caucus’ declining influence. As examples, he cited how Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) lost a Republican primary battle for state attorney general and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) lost a similar primary battle for his own House seat. On both occasions, it was because they split with Trump on certain issues.

"Roy, the group's ideological soul on many policy matters, lost by a double-digit margin Tuesday in his bid for the GOP nomination to become Texas state attorney general," reported Paul Kane of NOTUS in May. "He was defeated by a state senator who claimed Roy wasn't a real MAGA supporter. Roy is not the only one. Come January, almost the entire top rung of the Freedom Caucus will leave the House — a hollowing out of one of the most influential power centers of the past decade."

Kane added, "Many are running for statewide office: Reps. Andy Biggs (Arizona governor), Harriet Hageman (Wyoming senator), Barry Moore (Alabama senator), Tom Tiffany (Wisconsin governor), Ralph Norman (South Carolina governor) and Byron Donalds (Florida governor). Most are underdogs at the moment, except for Donalds, Hageman and Moore. Another former caucus chair, Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry, is in a tossup race in November against an opponent who came within a point of toppling him in 2024."

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