The soon-to-be former Republican senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina reflects the former Republican senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, who chose to depart from the Senate in 2017 rather than follow the new party politics espoused by President Trump.
Mr. Flake, who left the Senate to serve as ambassador to Turkey during the Biden administration due to frequent disagreements with Mr. Trump on the president’s integrity and honesty, claimed that Thom Tillis should have been re-elected. I felt the same way; he would have had to transform into someone he isn’t.
The most recent illustration of how significantly Mr. Trump has changed the Senate is Mr. Tillis’ decision to not seek reelection after defying the president. With Mr. Trump’s endorsement looming as a critical factor in Senate primaries, Republicans who dared to confront him are out and supporters are in.
Many independent-minded Republican senators who were prepared to challenge the president’s actions or assert legislative prerogatives are no longer in office. Having been the target of a Trump diatribe and primary threat due to his opposition to the party’s main tax cut and domestic policy plan, Mr. Tillis was the most recent to lose.
There’s no shortage of company for him.
Former Senators Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, Rob Portman of Ohio, Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania, Roy Blunt of Missouri, Mitt Romney of Utah, and Ben Sasse of Nebraska are among the Republican casualties from the first Trump administration, in addition to Mr. Flake.
Those men bowed out for reasons other than their relationship with Mr. Trump. A number of factors contributed, including the challenge of navigating a MAGA electorate in their home states, the never-ending needs of fund-raising, and frustration with the lack of progress in Congress. But given that four of them—Senators Burr, Romney, Sasse, and Toomey—were among the seven Republicans who voted to convict Mr. Trump on impeachment allegations stemming from the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, Mr. Trump was a significant factor.
Now, ardent Trump supporters like Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt, who has turned into a White House point man, and Tennessee Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, both staunch conservatives, have taken the seats of the deceased. Furthermore, MAGA’s grasp on the chamber was strengthened when Trump acolytes Bernie Moreno, Tim Sheehy, and David McCormick upset Democratic senators Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Jon Tester of Montana, and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Tillis said that the Senate no longer honors political independence, and he might not do so if he could go back in time.
In an interview, he stated that the Thom Tillis who decided to run in 2013 most likely would not have done so.
The Senate’s transformation into a more conservative body was exemplified when it adopted the House’s broad domestic policy and tax-cutting proposal. In Congress, on the other hand, the courtly Senate has more often served as a tempering cooling saucer for the House’s intensely political tea.
Even though they acknowledged that the White House was not giving them the level of detail they were looking for regarding the cuts, Republicans in the Senate, who are typically envious guardians of their authority over federal spending, also agreed with Mr. Trump’s demand to cancel $9 billion that Congress had already approved.
Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska were the only two Republicans to oppose the expenditure clawbacks. Although Mr. Tillis frequently poses as a wild card, they are frequently the only two senators in the running as possible Republican defectors these days. Former Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell, who has expressed contempt for Mr. Trump, has also voted against the president’s nominees and policies on a few occasions.
Only Ms. Collins and Ms. Murkowski opposed Mr. Tillis after he chose to back Emil Bove, a Trump appeals court candidate who was accused by a Justice Department colleague of inciting opposition to court decisions. In his second term as president, Mr. Trump has eliminated all but a handful of skeptics from the Senate.
According to Ira Shapiro, a former senior Senate assistant and the author of three books on the Senate, there was a group of Republicans who opposed him in different ways during the first administration. He essentially united the party in fanatical fealty to him after achieving this incredible political comeback.
Mr. Shapiro pointed out that the Senate was able to achieve a number of bipartisan legislative successes on marriage equality, public works, and gun safety as recently as 2022, when the Senate was controlled by Democrats. This kind of collaboration would appear nearly unthinkable today.
As he implements the Trump agenda, even Senator John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota who became majority leader this year after previously bickering with Mr. Trump, has cultivated a good working relationship with the president. Fresh off our several triumphs over the last two weeks—and, in fact, six months—the president flatteringly referred to the majority leader as the extremely gifted John Thune in a recent social media post.
The close ties between Senate Republicans and Mr. Trump should not come as a surprise, according to Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina who has previously argued with Trump.
Mr. Graham added of his fellow Republicans, “The president is very strong in the conference.” The base really likes him. Republican presidents are typically aided by Republican senators. That’s how the system operates. There is a lot of consistency in the way that party majorities have served their presidents throughout history.
“That’s what L.B.J. was known for,” Graham continued, referring to President Lyndon Baines Johnson.
However, the Senate was also renowned for its powerful personalities and assertive politicians who viewed themselves as equal partners to the president, with the authority to reject nominations they believed to be unqualified or unfit and the ability to design legislation. Power has shifted to the White House for both parties, and the Senate has become a far more political institution in recent decades.
Mr. Tillis pointed out that independent-leaning Democrats like Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin III of West Virginia have also resigned from the Senate, albeit not because they were overthrown by their party’s leaders but rather because they accepted the fact that they would struggle to win reelection. He expressed concern that the Senate’s current situation might deter future qualified applicants and further diminish the chamber’s historical clout.
Mr. Tillis stated, “I believe it has a more dampening effect on those who come behind us.” You start to question if the Senate can continue to act as the backstop it has in the past.
Mr. Flake claimed to agree with that viewpoint.
He declared, “I adore the Senate.” Usually, it compels the parties to cooperate. I find it painful to observe things as they are. What ought to be an enormous balance of power is being removed.
Supporters urged him to attempt to fight it out, but he also stated that it was untenable for him to find a way to stay.
Mr. Flake remarked, “I could have said that I didn’t mean those things I said about President Trump or that I was starting to like his behavior.” That’s not worth a job. You must deal with your children and grandchildren.
