Early Wednesday morning, President Donald Trump excoriated four Republican U.S. senators who bucked his demand to implement sharp new tariffs on Canadian imports, calling the cadre “disloyal” for their recent votes.
It has been “extremely difficult” to deal with mavericks in the GOP, especially those intent on settling old scores or making a point rather than sticking together, Trump said in a lengthy social media post shortly before 1 a.m. on Wednesday.
“Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Rand Paul, also of Kentucky, will hopefully get on the Republican bandwagon, for a change, and fight the Democrats wild and flagrant push to not penalize Canada for the sale, into our Country, of large amounts of Fentanyl, by Tariffing the value of this horrible and deadly drug in order to make it more costly to distribute and buy,” Trump declared on his Truth Social account.
Breaking rank only serves to project weakness, he added.
“They are playing with the lives of the American people, and right into the hands of the Radical Left Democrats and Drug Cartels. The Senate Bill is just a ploy of the Dems to show and expose the weakness of certain Republicans, namely these four, in that it is not going anywhere because the House will never approve it and I, as your President, will never sign it. Why are they allowing Fentanyl to pour into our Country unchecked, and without penalty,” he continued.
Trump then questioned whether the four are afflicted by the same “Trump Derangement Syndrome” so pervasive on the left since he returned to the White House.
“What is wrong with them, other than suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, commonly known as TDS? Who can want this to happen to our beautiful families, and why? To the people of the Great States of Kentucky, Alaska, and Maine, please contact these Senators and get them to FINALLY adhere to Republican Values and Ideals. They have been extremely difficult to deal with and, unbelievably disloyal to hardworking Majority Leader John Thune, and the Republican Party itself. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The salvo by Trump comes on “Liberation Day,” the administration’s much-touted revolution of U.S. tariffs spanning imports from countries around the world. The president is expected to announce the contours of his plan from the Rose Garden at 4 p.m. EST.
In a sign of mounting pressure, Sen. Murkowski (R-AK) told Politico she is “very likely” to back the resolution on Canadian imports, Fox News reports.
McConnell (R-KY), who announced last year that he would retire after the 2026 election, wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that “tariffs are bad policy” and is unexpected to change his position.
In February, he was on the receiving end of a vicious rebuke by President Trump who declared that the former Senate majority leader “never had it” and only stayed in power so long because of his financial largesse bestowed on other Republicans.
Sen. Paul (R-KY), like contrarian Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY), is a staunch free-market libertarian who has said in the past that he disagrees with increased tariffs.
The last of the bunch, Sen. Collins (R-ME), is one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents and faces the prospect of a formidable Democratic challenger in the Northeast swing state of Maine.
The Commies have us here… they work in lockstep!
There IS a point at which “loyalty” to a person, or ideology, can become treason to a people group; the leftists crossed that line long since, and set up camp there. Rand Paul, however does surprise me on this 1. It’s not like him to oppose a measure to slow the influx of criminal invaders or dangerous drugs. Neither is good for America in any way, and if tariffs can at least slow, if not fully stop, their influx, it makes good sense to me.