{"id":40,"date":"2026-05-24T18:10:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T18:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=40"},"modified":"2026-05-24T18:10:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T18:10:00","slug":"trump-could-face-foreign-policy-squeeze-in-senate-after-primary-ruckus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=40","title":{"rendered":"Trump could face foreign policy squeeze in Senate after primary ruckus"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

New questions have emerged about whether President Donald Trump has lost sway with some Republican senators as they mull action related to a number of thorny foreign policy matters after they have clashed with Trump over the Iran war, the White House ballroom and his targeting of respected incumbents.<\/p>\n

Read more Reconciliation bill punted until after Memorial Day recess<\/a><\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s Senate headwinds could show up most often on matters of foreign policy because second-term presidents typically devote more time to global affairs as they fight lame-duck status domestically.\u00a0The president this week celebrated the primary defeat of Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and endorsed Texas state Attorney General Ken Paxton in a heated primary runoff with Republican Sen. John Cornyn. Both Cassidy and Cornyn are widely respected by their Republican peers, creating new intraparty unrest.<\/p>\n

Josh Holmes, a longtime former senior aide to Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., wrote this week on X that \u201cthe Senate GOP is going to be pretty ungovernable for the next couple months,\u201d adding: \u201cUnenviable task for White House office of legislative affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Any agreement the Trump team reaches on Iran would likely fall short of the Barack Obama-era pact that Trump scuttled during his first term, Richard Haass, a former senior National Security Council official under Republican President George H.W. Bush, told MS NOW on Thursday.<\/p>\n

That likely would lead more Republican senators to ask, as Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Mark Warner put it on Thursday: \u201cSo, what did we get?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no way, without massive numbers of troops on the ground, to reclaim the enriched uranium,\u201d Warner, D-Va., said. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen a leadership [in Iran] that\u2019s more radical than before. The straits [of Hormuz], we\u2019ve shown how vulnerable they are. And unfortunately, you\u2019ve seen the missile capacity that\u2019s been taken out wasn\u2019t near what we said.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cSo, it may be the best we can do is to get observers back on the ground and a chance to monitor so that they would promise no further enrichment \u2014 but that would mean we would be back in a circumstance potentially not even as good as the JCPOA,\u201d he said, using shorthand for the now-sacked Iran nuclear deal reached by the Obama administration, formerly known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because \u201cit won\u2019t have groups like Russia and China as part of the [enrichment] monitoring group \u2014 and that\u2019s after 14 Americans died, billions of dollars spent,\u201d Warner added. \u201cThe president could declare victory tomorrow, and there\u2019s still going to be gas prices that will get above five bucks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump ally Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., an Armed Services Committee member, acknowledged Wednesday that the primary ruckus would make things harder for the party. For some committees, the newly minted GOP nominee for Alabama governor said, \u201cI\u2019m not sure what we can get [to the floor].\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Bipartisan opposition\u2019<\/h2>\n

But when asked if he senses that Trump\u2019s recent moves have undercut his sway with GOP lawmakers, Tennessee Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty replied: \u201cI don\u2019t think so.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just with the president yesterday,\u201d Hagerty said on Wednesday, \u201cand I think he\u2019s as clear-eyed as he\u2019s ever been, in terms of making certain that he\u2019s doing everything that he can to address the concerns that the American voters expressed when they voted for him 18 months ago. And we need to understand the fact that President Trump is dealing with something with Iran that has been a threat to us for close to 50 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another Trump ally, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said he has sensed \u201cnothing like that\u201d when asked about the president losing pull on the Hill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody has the opportunity to support who they believe in,\u201d Scott said of the Paxton endorsement, before suggesting most Senate Republicans would give Trump cover over an Iran war that multiple polls show is unpopular with a majority of Americans.<\/p>\n

Read more At the Races: Full disclosure, Jersey edition<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI support what he\u2019s doing in Iran. I don\u2019t want to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon. I don\u2019t want my family \u2026 destroyed by a nuclear weapon,\u201d said Scott, who is a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees. \u201cSo he\u2019s doing the right thing. I mean, the years of [Barack] Obama and [Joe] Biden put the world in a very difficult situation, and he\u2019s trying to solve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., on Wednesday said he has had discussions with GOP senators who privately oppose Trump\u2019s talk of big changes to U.S. military deployments to countries like Germany and Poland.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s significant bipartisan opposition to the general idea of drawing down troops in Europe,\u201d Kaine said of the fiscal 2027 Pentagon policy bill. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be surprised to see some provisions proposed for the bill that would, you know, a president can only do this if they certify it to Congress and give Congress six months advance notice, giving us an opportunity to reject and stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaine\u2019s comment came after the Senate on Tuesday voted 50-47 to move a war powers resolution one step closer to an up-or-down floor vote. That measure, pushed by Kaine and others, would direct the president to remove forces from hostilities against Iran unless specifically authorized by Congress. In a potential sign of things to come for team Trump, Cassidy joined three other Republicans in voting to advance it: Kentucky\u2019s Rand Paul, Maine\u2019s Susan Collins and Alaska\u2019s Lisa Murkowski.<\/p>\n

\u2018Doesn\u2019t work out well\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The fresh fissures raise questions about Republican harmony over matters like how to wrap up the Iran standoff, the substance of a potential deal with Tehran, the simmering Russia-Ukraine war, Trump\u2019s reported tensions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the administration\u2019s pursuit of regime change in Cuba.<\/p>\n

One Republican senator who also has shown a willingness to, at times, buck Trump has been retiring North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis. He said he was \u201cdisappointed, but not surprised\u201d by the presidential diss of Cornyn.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really felt like when Turning Point [USA] endorsed Paxton, that to me was a proxy endorsement for President Trump, so I\u2019m not all that surprised,\u201d Tillis said. \u201cIt\u2019s not at all surprising in the eleventh hour. He did it. I respect the president for, you know, making his pick. I think he made the wrong pick. It\u2019s going to be a lot more expensive to hold that seat.\u201d<\/p>\n

For his part, Trump has appeared unfazed by the grumbling from some GOP senators following several high-profile wins.<\/p>\n

He teased Fox News reporter Jacqui Heinrich Wednesday as he headed to address U.S. Coast Guard Academy graduates.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer husband votes against me all the time. Can you imagine? I don\u2019t know what\u2019s with him. You better ask him what\u2019s with him,\u201d Trump said, referring to Heinrich\u2019s fianc\u00e9, Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who has voted with Trump less often than other GOP members.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe likes voting against Trump,\u201d Trump said at Joint Base Andrews beneath a wing of Air Force One. \u201cYou know what happens with that? Doesn\u2019t work out well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Women\u2019s museum bill defeated in House<\/a><\/p>\n

Nina Heller contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New questions have emerged about whether President Donald Trump has lost sway with some Republican senators as they mull action related to a number of thorny foreign policy matters after they have clashed with Trump over the Iran war, the White House ballroom and his targeting of respected incumbents. Trump\u2019s Senate headwinds could show up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-white-house"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump could face foreign policy squeeze in Senate after primary ruckus - American Industry Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=40\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump could face foreign policy squeeze in Senate after primary ruckus - American Industry Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New questions have emerged about whether President Donald Trump has lost sway with some Republican senators as they mull action related to a number of thorny foreign policy matters after they have clashed with Trump over the Iran war, the White House ballroom and his targeting of respected incumbents. 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