Feb. 15, 2026, 4:02 a.m. ET
Donald Trump‘s second term as president is mired by two different anxieties, and he has put them on a collision course.
Trump openly fears the Republican Party losing control of the U.S. House in November’s midterm elections, and now his free-falling approval ratings could also put control of the U.S. Senate in play as well. Democratic control means serious oversight for a president who seriously needs oversight. Impeachment could be on the table, too.
But Trump also shows great concern about losing control of the Republican Party in Congress. He tosses telling tantrums whenever Republicans in either chamber dare to act like a coequal branch of government rather than subservient sycophants, like his party’s leaders in the House and Senate.
Six Republicans voted with Democrats in the House on Feb. 11 to reject Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods, an illogical and unpopular tax paid by U.S. consumers.
Trump responded exactly as you would expect – with an angry social media post that said the Republicans “will seriously suffer the consequences come Election time, and that includes Primaries!”
Trump just dropped a primary recruitment call
That threat could really only resonate with two of the six House Republicans who voted against Trump’s tariffs – U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd of Colorado.
Fitzpatrick, who has a record of withstanding attempts to unseat him from the right, currently has no Republican challenger in Pennsylvania’s May 19 primary election, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
Would-be Republican challengers have until March 10 to get on the primary ballot. So Trump just issued what amounts to a primary recruitment call with a three-week deadline, for a seat his party needs to hold to keep control of the House.
Hurd already has a Republican challenger, Hope Scheppelman, a former vice chair of Colorado’s Republican Party whose campaign website prominently features a photograph of her with Trump. Hurd has a 10-to-1 fundraising advantage over Scheppelman, FEC filings show, but Trump targeting him could now impact a primary for a seat his party also needs to hold.
Two of the four House Republicans, Don Bacon of Nebraska and Dan Newhouse of Washington, are not seeking reelection this year. Another, Kevin Kiley of California, was redistricted out of his seat recently.
And Thomas Massie of Kentucky had already been targeted by Trump for his bipartisan legislation that forced the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files.
Trump can’t admit his tariffs are a disaster
The resolution that passed in the House on Feb. 11 must be voted on in the Senate. It’s a privileged resolution, which means Republican leadership in the Senate can’t kill that vote with parliamentary ploys.
And four Republicans in the Senate voted with Democrats in October to approve a similar resolution to eliminate Trump’s Canadian tariffs. One of the Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine, faces a difficult reelection effort as Trump routinely attacks her.
That’s a gift to Democrats, but Trump can’t help himself.
We know Trump lacks impulse control because the House and Senate, even if they can agree on bipartisan rollbacks of his Canadian tariffs, have nowhere near the votes needed to override a presidential veto. He could just veto what they send him. But that would signal his loss of control over Congress.
Trump needs to hold onto the House and Senate. But he’ll attack his own party members if they do their jobs as they see fit. And his tariffs are deeply unpopular with American voters, who pay the price and will go to the polls angry about his inability to make life more affordable.
The U.S. economy along with immigration enforcement were once the two issues where Trump found political success. Now he’s lost America on both.
A Pew Research Center poll in January found that 60% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s tariffs. An Economist/YouGov poll in November found that 73% of Americans said Trump’s tariffs had increased prices on things they buy.
But he keeps stamping his feet about tariffs. On Feb. 11, Trump followed up his threatening social media post with another post that declared, “TARIFFS make a WIN for us, EASY. Republicans must keep it that way!”
Trump can’t admit that his tariff policy has been a disaster. And he can’t accept that some Republicans recognize that.
His fixation on not just Republican control of Congress but also his control of Republicans in Congress will probably be the reason they lose at least one, if not both, chambers in November.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ByChrisBrennan. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, Translating Politics, here.
