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Wednesday, May 20, 2026

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There’s also Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who joined Democrats last week in a bid to curb Trump’s war powers in Iran. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky have voted against some of Trump’s Cabinet picks.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The YOLO caucus is in session.
In a Republican-led Congress defined by deference to President Donald Trump, there’s a small but steadily growing cohort who have found themselves more willing to break with the White House. Although the president maintains a firm grip on Republican voters, the expanding club could hinder his agenda on everything from the Iran war to immigration funding at a moment when his party holds a tenuous majority on Capitol Hill.
Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana is the newest member of the club. Just days after losing his primary to a Trump-backed challenger, Cassidy on Tuesday reversed himself on legislation involving the war in Iran and voted with Democrats to rein in U.S. military action. 
“The way our Constitution is set up, Congress should hold the executive branch accountable,” he told reporters the day before.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas could be next after Trump endorsed Ken Paxton, Cornyn’s rival for the Republican nomination in next week’s runoff. 
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky is perhaps a founding member of the YOLO caucus, having frustrated Trump since the president’s first term, and his status was solidified after losing his primary on Tuesday to a Trump-backed challenger. 
Massie has enraged Trump by voting against his signature tax and spending bill and by pushing for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. 
He hinted there’s more to come before he leaves office. 
“I got seven months left in Congress,” Massie said with a grin during his concession speech as the crowd erupted. 
Other similarly situated Republicans include Sen. Thom Tillis, who was a fierce critic of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and has more recently turned his attention to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. There’s also Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who joined Democrats last week in a bid to curb Trump’s war powers in Iran. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky have voted against some of Trump’s Cabinet picks. And in the House, Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska has pushed to reclaim congressional power over tariffs.
“If the legislative branch always votes with the president, we do have a king,” Massie said in his concession speech Tuesday. 
This hardly amounts to a revival of the Never Trump movement that some Republicans unsuccessfully hoped would curb the president’s excesses during his first term or block him from returning to office. Many in the party, including Trump’s occasional detractors, have either stood by or been unable to block the president as he launched the war in Iran and presided over an aggressive immigration enforcement operation and the dismantling of the federal workforce. 
Today’s unencumbered Republicans don’t fit into an ideological box. But they are united by a sense of emboldenment that can only be attained in a few ways in Trump’s Washington. 
Many, like Tillis, McConnell and Bacon, have decided to retire and

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