Trump's revenge tour will come back to bite him in the you-know-what

Trump’s revenge tour continues.

Republican congressman and Trump critic Thomas Massie lost Tuesday to Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallrein in the most expensive House primary in U.S. history (total cost was more than $32 million from combined campaign and super PAC spending).

Massie lost by a 10-point margin after being outspent 2-to-1 for most of the race. Pro-Israel groups (AIPAC, RJC) accounted for just over 30 percent of outside spending in the race, while Trump’s own super PAC accounted for another 30 percent.

This is just Trump’s latest victory on what has been dubbed his “revenge tour.” Other Trump victories include:

• The retirement of North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who announced last summer he would not run for reelection after voting against Trump’s Big Ugly Bill.
• The primary defeat of all but one of the Indiana Republicans who stood up to Trump by opposing Trump’s demand for redistricting.
• The primary defeat of Louisiana’s Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who voted to impeach Trump for January 6.

• The potential loss of Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn to Trump-endorsed Ken Paxton in next Tuesday’s runoff. (Trump says he decided to back Paxton because Cornyn was “very late in backing me” in 2024, despite Cornyn’s record of voting for everything Trump has wanted.)
• Incumbent Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who opposed Trump’s plot to “find 11,780 votes” in Georgia in 2020 and declined to seek reelection to another term as secretary of state in favor of running for governor, was easily trounced in the Republican primary for governor. (The GOP secretary of state primary in Georgia is headed to a June 16 runoff, with both candidates having promoted voter fraud conspiracies.)

These purges cement Trump’s stranglehold over the GOP. They send a clear signal to all Republicans who seek office or who are planning to run for reelection that they must be a rubber stamp for Trump to gain or remain in power.

They have thereby converted the official Republican Party from a political party into an extension of Trump’s regime — further eroding American democracy.

Trump’s retribution victories have encouraged him to settle additional scores. He’s now demanding that Senate Republicans fire parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough after she ruled that funding for the White House ballroom cannot be included in Republicans’ party-line immigration enforcement bill.

When Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Trump’s threat against MacDonough was “concerning,” Trump doubled down — posting this morning on Truth Social: “Get smart and tough Republicans, or you’ll all be looking for a job much sooner than you thought possible!”

Trump also reiterated his threat to seek revenge against Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Col.), an “America Firster” who broke with Trump by pushing to release the Jeffrey Epstein files and campaigning with Massie last weekend. (Boebert declared last night on X after Massie’s defeat that “Trump is my President!”)

Trump is also threatening Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who last week criticized Trump’s ballroom funding request. Fitzpatrick is a moderate Republican from a must-hold district if the GOP hopes to defend the House majority. “He likes voting against Trump,” Trump said. “You know what happens with that — doesn’t work out well.”

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But the purges in Congress could also make Trump a premature lame duck over the next six months if Tillis, Cassidy, Massie, and Cornyn break with him for the remainder of their terms.

And why shouldn’t they, if they have left a shred of integrity?

They’re already showing some courage. Since his loss, Cassidy has rebuked Trump by voting against ballroom funding and voting for a procedural vote to advance a war powers resolution aimed at limiting Trump’s military action in Iran. The resolution forces Trump to either end hostilities or seek congressional authorization. The motion to advance the resolution passed by a 50-47 vote, marking the first time Democrats successfully advanced this measure.

In addition to Cassidy, other Senate Republicans who broke party lines with their May 19 procedural vote to advance a war powers resolution were Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Rand Paul. Notably, Thom Tillis and John Cornyn were absent from the vote. (Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, who’s fast becoming a DINO, was the sole Democrat to vote with most Republicans against the resolution.)

If Cornyn loses in Texas, the rift between Trump and Thune is likely to deepen — thereby threatening Senate passage of the second reconciliation bill (which incorporates a huge funding increase for ICE as well as $1 billion for Trump’s ballroom).

Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/.

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