Decisive defeat finally shows Trump House GOP might not be on his side

WASHINGTON — Cracks in President Donald Trump’s stranglehold on the GOP — and the 119th Congress — went on full display at the U.S. Capitol this month as the House of Representatives sent the White House a defiant message.

Last week, 18 Republicans voted to approve a Ukraine aid package opposed by the White House. It came after four Republicans supported a measure calling for the removal of U.S. troops from Iran unless Congress votes to authorize that war.

The rare presidential rebukes revealed tension in the GOP, with Republicans now openly attacking other Republicans.

“To lessen the president's hand, I think, was inappropriate,” Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) told Raw Story at the Capitol. “I don't think they were thinking.”

Still, Democrats aren’t doing any end zone dances just yet.

Now that Israel and America have been at war with Iran for longer than 60 days, Trump and his allies are re-packaging it.

“Really, at this point, it’s a blockade, and more than anything, we are ensuring safe transit and making sure that there’s freedom of navigation,” Zinke, who served as Interior Secretary in Trump’s first term, told Raw Story.

Zinke shares the president’s frustration with the 226-195 vote reasserting congressional control of the conflict.

"It's tragic,” Zinke said.

“Do you think those Republicans who crossed over were looking at November?” Raw Story asked.

“I don't think they were thinking,” Zinke said of his GOP colleagues who crossed the aisle.

While Zinke says he agreed with the premise of the Iran measure — that Congress has the ultimate say on matters of war and peace — he says now isn’t the time for Congress to be tying the president’s hand.

"I agree with the underlying premise, but I also agree that Iran can't have a nuclear weapon," Zinke said. "They can't have an arsenal of destruction. They can't have nuclear material. So I'm giving the president a little latitude on this one."

Since Trump re-entered the White House last January, Republicans on Capitol Hill have given his administration broad leeway on everything from tearing down the White House's historic East Wing to letting Elon Musk and DOGE — Department of Government Efficiency — rescind billions of dollars Congress itself had approved.

While the Iran measure is largely symbolic, it did reveal growing unrest with the conflict.

“I guess, maybe, it’s just a little bit of frustration,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) told Raw Story just off the House floor. “We had really good combat operations, but now we've had two months of, I don't know, it seems like a little bit of indecision being made.”

Bacon’s retiring at the end of this term and tends to be more moderate on many issues, but he actually voted with the president on Iran — though he’s not judging his GOP colleagues who bucked Trump.

“I think we grapple with this. I want to see us win. Iran's terrible. I would hate to tie the president's hands right now,” Bacon said. “But I understand the other side of the position, too.”

Ukraine’s a different story, though.

On Thursday last week, 18 Republicans — including Bacon — voted with Democrats to authorize $8 billion in loans to Ukraine and America’s NATO allies.

“It’s Congress saying, ‘hey, we’ve got a different opinion,’” Bacon said. “And, by the way, 70 percent of the American people want more support for Ukraine. I think it's important for him to hear that.”

The measure’s future is in doubt now that it’s been sent to the GOP-controlled Senate, but Trump’s growing number of congressional critics say this week was important because, if nothing else, it showed a restive American public that Congress is more than a rubber stamp, at least in theory.

“Do you think that raises awareness to the public?” Raw Story asked Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI).

“Some,” Dingell told Raw Story while walking to the Capitol this week. “Yeah.”

“They should be worried going into the election,” Dingell said. “People are unhappy right now with energy costs. Gasoline prices have risen dramatically.”

That’s why Democrats are glad Congress finally stood up to Trump.

“It's important for Congress to insert itself,” Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA) told Raw Story.

Still, with Trump’s success in recent GOP primary contests, Democrats aren’t expecting the president’s grip on congressional Republicans to let up ahead of this year’s midterms.

“He can ignore it. He can do whatever he wants,” Bera said. “A lot of my colleagues will echo what the president's saying.”