Senator Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, was confronted by Fox News host Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday about the GOP's loyalty to former President Donald Trump, when she said, "You're all afraid of him."
The Context:
Even after Trump left office in 2021, the GOP showed unrelenting support of the former president. The latest example of Trump's pull with the Republican Party is the failed border deal in the Senate. Republican and Democratic senators worked for months to craft an $118 billion foreign aid package that included $20 billion for border security and policy changes to America's immigration system.
However, Trump opposed this deal, in what critics called a political move and GOP lawmakers followed suit. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, told his colleagues that the bill would be "dead on arrival" if it made it to the House. However on Wednesday, a vote to advance the bill within the Senate failed.
What We Know:
Bream suggested that the failed border deal showed how much power Trump has over Republicans in Congress.
"So, President Biden not only gets to blame you guys about the border, but he gets to blame President Trump, who he says tanked this whole deal, saying he wants to keep it alive as a campaign issue and that basically, he's running the GOP at this point," Bream said.
The Fox News host went on to share a Politico article published on Friday titled, "'It's devastating': Trump seizes unmatched control over GOP.'" Bream read a quote from the article from former chair of the Nevada Republican Party Amy Tarkanian: "'He's got a stronghold'...'I don't know how to explain it. It's completely mind-boggling to me, the type of brainwashing that has been done.'"
Bream then challenged Cotton, saying, "Critics say there's no check on him within the GOP. You're all afraid of him. You've endorsed him. What do you make of this argument that he's essentially taken away your autonomy as a senator?"
The senator responded: "Not all, Shannon. What President Trump saw about this bill is what most Arkansans saw about it, what all but four Republican senators saw, which is that it does not solve the problem."
Cotton then went on to talk about the border deal: "Yes, it had some positive reforms, but in the end, by institutionalizing or codifying a lot of President Biden's abuses over the last three years, it would allow this flow of migrants to continue.
"What I want to do, what most Republican senators want to do, what President Trump wants to do is stop the border crisis. And now we can see, with Joe Biden ideologically invested in open borders, the way to stop that crisis is to elect President Trump this fall. He did it once. He can do it again."
Newsweek reached out to Cotton's office and Trump's campaign via email for comment.
Views:
Trump, who is the GOP frontrunner in the 2024 presidential election, said the border deal was a "horrible open borders betrayal of America," at a rally in Las Vegas late last month. Critics say the former president killed the bill so that he could continue to campaign on the border issue.
Biden supported the failed border deal ahead of the Senate vote, calling it "a win for America" in a White House speech on Tuesday. He also criticized Trump during the speech, saying the former president would "rather weaponize this issue than actually solve it."
Senator Chris Murphy, Connecticut Democrat and key negotiator on the border deal, told NBC News after the failed border vote on Wednesday: "This is the most outrageous thing that I have been a part of in my 16 years in Congress...We've learned that Trump is fully and completely in charge of the party, and they are rudderless otherwise."
Following the failed vote, Senator Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, defended the bill, telling CNN's Jake Tapper on Wednesday, "Eighteen thousand border patrol agents have all said this would be the best bill they've ever seen, in the past two decades or more. This is good for our country. Start putting your country before yourself. Stop worrying about being a Republican or Democrat. If you have to do this to be reelected, you shouldn't want to serve."
Meanwhile, Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, called the border deal a "bad bill" while appearing on Fox Business' Varney & Company on Thursday.
What's Next?
After the failed border vote, the Senate decided to move along with a foreign aid package that excluded the border issue. The $95.34 billion package was advanced to debate with a 67 to 32 vote on Thursday.
The aid package includes $61 billion for Ukraine in its war with Russia, $14 billion for Israel as it fights Hamas in Gaza, and $4.83 billion to help America's allies in the Indo-Pacific region, which includes Taiwan. The package will also give $9.15 billion in humanitarian aid to conflict zones like Gaza, the West Bank and Ukraine.
The Senate will now work towards passing the deal, with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, saying on the Senate floor Thursday: "Now that we are on the bill, we hope to reach an agreement with our Republican colleagues on amendments. Democrats have always been clear that we support having a fair and reasonable amendment process."
Update 2/11/24, 11:35 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Rachel Dobkin is a Newsweek reporter based in New York. Her focus is reporting on politics. Rachel joined Newsweek in ... Read more
