Trump’s ‘Cult-Like’ Grip on GOP Keeps Most Party Members in Line
- Candidate who ousted House member says GOP is party of Trump
- Dissenting senator says colleagues afraid to ‘poke the bear’
U.S. President Donald Trump
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
President Donald Trump demonstrated his dominance over the Republican Party this week, serving notice to GOP lawmakers that they risk the wrath of their base by going against him.
On Tuesday, South Carolina Republicans ousted a veteran lawmaker whose primary opponent called him disloyal to the president, and GOP voters in Democratic-leaning Virginia selected a firebrand with a Trump-like affinity for culture wars as their U.S. Senate candidate. In Congress, a GOP senator who is retiring accused his colleagues of being too afraid to “poke the bear” by taking on Trump’s protectionist trade policies.