No Longer In Lockstep: More Republicans Are Starting To Inch Away From Señor Trumpanzee

Will The GOP Civil War In Georgia Help Jon Ossoff Win Again?

Trump Pushed A Lie That Brian Kemp's 50-Point Victory Was A Fraud

Once a staunch Trump ally, neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes denounced Señor TACO again yesterday in terms few Democrats would dare: “You are fat, you are a joke, you are stupid, you are not funny, you are not as smart as you think you are… This entire thing has been a scam. When we look back on the history of populism in America, we are going to look back on the MAGA movement as the biggest scam in history. And the liberals were right. The MAGA supporters were had. They were.”

It’s easier for Trump to see outright fascists break with his project than to watch as more mainstream Republican elected officials also grow reticent about following him down the highway to hell. The GOP-controlled House Oversight Committee voted to force his Justice Department to hand over the Epstein Files he’s so desperate to hide. When Summer Lee’s subpoena came up for a vote, conservative Republicans Brian Jack (GA), Nancy Mace (SC) and Scott Perry (PA) voted with all the Democrats to pass it, “a major blow to Trump and GOP leaders.” Yesterday, Meredith Hill wrote that “Internal fury over the House GOP’s Jeffrey Epstein crisis is still swirling as President Trump faces an all-out revolt from his biggest supporters on Capitol Hill. The rebellion this week stunned White House officials and GOP leaders— and, according to Republicans involved in the talks, it’s currently set to continue the moment they return from August recess… [MAGA Mike] has tried to navigate the break between House Republicans demanding more Epstein-related information and the president, who just days ago was calling the Epstein files ‘a hoax’ that only ‘weaklings’ were still talking about. White House officials also fumed over Johnson’s comments on a podcast last week, when he called for more information to be released. He’s since said there was ‘no daylight’ between House Republicans and the president on wanting transparency. ‘It’s not a hoax. Of course not,’ Johnson said in a clip of an interview with CBS News that aired Thursday.”

And the Epstein scandal— albeit the worst— isn’t the only place where congressional Republicans are separating themselves from Trump, at least enough to be able to claim plausible deniability when they are accused of being nothing but lackeys during the midterms. Yesterday, Axios reported that Trump nominees, who would have once sailed right through the confirmation process are facing GOP resistance in the Senate, “exposing ideological rifts the party has mostly papered over for nominations… Three nominees are now facing a future that's either uncertain or uncomfortable.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is less than enthusiastic about Mike Waltz as U.S. ambassador to the UN… Waltz's nomination isn't dead, but it may need some Democratic support to reach the floor favorably.

Emil Bove, a former defense attorney for Trump, is looking at a tough final confirmation vote for a judgeship on the U.S. Court of Appeals. His nomination cleared a procedural vote Tuesday, but Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME) have told reporters they will vote “no.”

And then there's Paul Ingrassia, who Trump has nominated to the Office of the Special Counsel and is facing a confirmation hearing Thursday. "It's pretty apparent to me he's not ready for prime time," Thom Tillis (R-NC) told NBC News. Ingrassia bombed in a meeting with committee staff this week, multiple sources familiar with the meeting told Axios. Ingrassia will have some explaining to do at the hearing, senators on the committee told us. “There's just some different statements he's made in the past that need clarification,” Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) said.

The bottom line: With a few exceptions— Matt Gaetz for attorney general and Ed Martin for U.S. attorney for D.C.— Trump has gotten his nominations across the line.

If McConnell and Tillis join Murkowski and Collins in opposition to Bove, not even JD Vance will be able to save the especially odious nomination. And that brings us to…

Yep, Georgia again.This time Jon Ossoff has a pretty desperate battle to hold onto his Senate seat next year. The Republicans are still patting themselves on the back for having gotten Marjorie Traitor Greene to swear off the race— and just handing Ossoff the reelection— but their roster still doesn’t look all that compelling:

• Buddy Carter

• Mike Collins

• Reagan Box

• John King

• Derek Dooley

• Chris Capparell

• Vinson Watkins

Max Cohen reported that Dooley and Collins, set to jump in officially soon, are supposed to help with GOP voter dissatisfaction with the announced contenders. The problem though is that Dooley andCollins will exacerbate the split in the party. Collins is a total Trump lackey and “Dooley, a former college football coach with no political experience, represents the Gov. Brian Kemp wing of the party.”

The other MAGA Republican congressnut  in the race, Buddy Carter, “has kicked off his campaign by dumping in millions of his own money into ads branding himself as a “MAGA warrior.”

Dooley is getting hit constantly with opposition research dumps questioning his support for Trump and his relationship with the Republican Party. The Washington Examiner reported this week that Dooley didn’t vote in numerous presidential elections, never donated to Trump and didn’t register as a Republican in a number of states.

The Senate primary could potentially pit Trump’s allies against Kemp’s circle if both candidates enter the race. Most Georgia Republicans are hoping Trump and Kemp, who last met in May to discuss the primary, will coalesce behind the same candidate.

Dooley’s team says the coach’s status as a political outsider is valuable. Crucially, a number of top Kemp advisers have signed onto Dooley’s camp as consultants, lending an extra air of credibility to the football coach’s effort.

But some Georgia Republicans say the unknown quantity of Dooley’s political chops is worrying.

“I don’t know him at all,” Collins told us about Dooley. “I’ve never met him.”

Collins, the son of former Rep. Mac Collins (R-GA) and the owner of a trucking business, attracted national attention as the main House sponsor of the [racist] Laken Riley Act.

Collins, who’s been teasing a Senate run for months, faces questions over his fundraising capacity and whether he can build a statewide team. But the Georgia Republican is closest to Trump’s movement among the potential contenders and has talked to the White House about running.

It’s important to note that even as the Republican primary uncertainty reigns, the top Senate GOP super PAC is spending millions of dollars on the air to attack Ossoff for opposing the One Big Beautiful Bill.

A little background on Collins. He decided to run for his father’s old seat when extremist lunatic Jody Hice— who had beaten him in 2014— stepped down in 2022 to make a failed MAGA-run against Brad Raffensperger for Secretary of State. It was a contentious 8-man primary which forced Collins into a runoff against Trump amigo and state Rep. Vernon Jones. Collins took just a quarter of the vote, coming in first despite Trump having endorsed Jones. In the runoff, he beat Jones by a solid margin. Collins made an obvious decision to never let anyone run to his right. He’s been a born-again MAGAt ever since.