Editorial: Congressional Republicans show welcome newfound willingness to rebuff Trump's bad ideas

For most of President Donald Trump's first 500 days back in office, congressional Republicans have shown next to no appetite for challenging him.

When the president's immigration enforcement tactics wreaked havoc on everyday life in America's cities, GOP lawmakers were mum. A few faint mumbles of discontent could be heard when Trump's tariffs caused the cost of consumer staples to spike, but action was missing. We could go on.

Thankfully now, though, congressional Republicans are showing a few signs of independence.

Perhaps it's Trump's falling poll numbers. Perhaps it's war fatigue. Perhaps some Republicans are simply remembering what they used to believe. Not coincidentally, midterm elections are five months away. Whatever the reasons, the signs are becoming harder to ignore.

Four Republicans crossed party lines June 3 to back a resolution directing Trump to remove U.S. forces from hostilities against Iran unless Congress officially declares war or grants specific military authorization. Trump called it a "meaningless vote" put forward by "4 bad Republicans and all of the Dumocrats."

He also called out those four U.S. representatives: Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Tom Barrett of Michigan and Warren Davidson of Ohio.

What Trump calls "bad" we'd call "principled." The resolution rightly recognizes that it's Congress that holds the constitutional power to declare war and authorize military force.

Republicans spent years criticizing Democrats for ideological conformity and intolerance of dissent. A healthy party allows disagreement, especially on questions as consequential as war, surveillance and executive power.

The war powers rebuke is not the only crack in Trump's hold over the GOP.

After an internal revolt by Republicans, the president appears to be scrapping his anti-weaponization fund, an outrageous overreach we lambasted last week. If adopted, the fund would've become a taxpayer-funded pot of money to pay out claims for victims of "lawfare" and government abuse, with payouts ending just before Trump is scheduled to leave office.

And in another public loss, the Senate unexpectedly failed to advance a three-year extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act after Democrats and a bloc of Republicans revolted over Trump's appointment of Bill Pulte as acting director of National Intelligence. Pulte already serves as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Prior to the Friday vote, the reauthorization appeared poised for passage, as a handful of Democrats had lined up to vote in favor. That changed after Trump appointed Pulte, which has sparked bipartisan fears of politicization of the office. It wasn't just Democrats who feared placing this power in Pulte's hands - seven Republicans, including Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Josh Hawley of Missouri, voted against the measure. Concerns over Pulte may have triggered the revolt, but long-standing worries about surveillance powers helped sustain it.

Speaking of Pulte, three GOP senators voted Thursday for a measure barring him from serving simultaneously as acting national intelligence director while leading FHFA.

"The Senate doesn't have any role to play in terms of confirming acting officials but I see no evidence of any qualifications for that job," Texas Sen. John Cornyn said Wednesday. He's not the only Republican questioning whether the 38-year-old Pulte is qualified for this role.

Beyond the capital, Republican state lawmakers in South Carolina rejected a Trump-backed redistricting plan at the end of May, following in the footsteps of our Hoosier neighbors, who last December decided to stick with state sovereignty despite mounting pressure from the president to join the partisan gerrymandering race.

We aren't cheering defiance for defiance's sake; rather, we're encouraged by a growing body of work that suggests Republicans are waking from their stupor and acting more like, well, Republicans. You know, the party whose commonsense and libertarian flanks oppose forever wars and loathe corruption and taxpayer abuse.

What unites these disputes is that Republicans are rediscovering concerns they once championed: limits on executive authority, constitutional checks and balances, civil liberties and skepticism of government power.

Of course, it's not all curtains for Trump and his allies. The Senate Friday passed a $70 billion immigration enforcement bill, marking an important win on one of Trump's key initiatives. (The bill still needs House approval.) And while Republicans drew a line on Trump's anti-weaponization fund, they largely shrugged at an extraordinary and outrageous Justice Department arrangement shielding Trump and his family from IRS audits of already-filed tax returns.

Still, progress takes time, and the increasing number of Republicans willing to stand against corruption and overreach deserves recognition. Congress was never intended to function as an extension of the White House. Whether on war powers, surveillance, redistricting or executive overreach, Republicans are beginning to remember that.

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This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 4:03 AM.