Public Notice

11/28/2025

Never in modern times has a president enforced absolute loyalty in the way Trump does, not only by attempting to destroy any Republican who opposes him but by demanding regular public displays of sycophancy, such as the North Korean-style cabinet meetings in which everyone competes to see who can offer the most effusive praise of the president’s magnificence.

For the most part, it has worked: The atmosphere of fear surrounding Trump’s cult of personality has kept Republicans from criticizing him even when they think he’s wrong.

But consider the list of issues on which notable Republican officeholders and influencers are now breaking with Trump, or at the very least fighting amongst themselves in ways that weaken his movement:

After months of resisting the release of the Epstein files, Trump faced a revolt from his own party in Congress, where both houses voted nearly unanimously for a bill to force a release, which he signed.

Ideas Trump has floated recently, including 50-year mortgages and $2,000 checks given to Americans supposedly from tariff revenue, have landed with a thud in Congress, with few members coming out to back them. His demand to eliminate the filibuster has received little support from Republicans in the Senate.

Trump’s apparent interest in invading Venezuela has caused a negative reaction from supporters who believed him when he said he wanted to break with our history of foreign adventurism. Republican officeholders have begun raising questions about the Pentagon murdering alleged drug smugglers by the dozens without providing any evidence of who they were or what legal authority the administration is operating under. Sen. Rand Paul, for instance, says “I think you’ll see a splintering and a fracturing of the movement that has supported the president” if he invades Venezuela.

While Republican legislators in many states saluted and followed his order to redraw their congressional maps, Republicans in Indiana said no despite intense pressure from the White House. While it received less coverage, Republicans in Nebraska and Kansas also declined to redraw their maps to eliminate Democratic seats.

Trump has cheerleaded the unfettered development of artificial intelligence, but many on the right are wary of the technology and the tech companies creating it; when news broke that he wants to prevent any state from adopting AI regulations, state-level Republicans pushed back.

The right is currently being torn apart over the question of how friendly it should be to Nazis; while Trump’s own position on the question is a bit muddled, his administration is teeming with white nationalists.

Some Republicans are even worried about backlash from the administration’s nationwide campaign of masked thuggery; in response to the recent invasion of North Carolina, former Gov. Pat McCrory told Politico, “From a PR and political standpoint, for the first time, immigration is maybe having a negative impact on my party.”

Punchbowl News reports that MTG’s displeasure is just the tip of the iceberg in the Republican caucus in the House. The White House, one anonymous GOP member told them, “has treated ALL members like garbage … More explosive early resignations are coming. It’s a tinder box. Morale has never been lower.”