Peter Baker on Trump Berating GOP Senators Over War Powers Vote: These Are Positions That They Have Taken in the Past

RUSH EXCERPT:
BAKER: "Well, I mean, they shouldn’t be. Obviously, these are positions that these senators have taken in the past. It’s very consistent with their point of view. What’s striking is that they’re willing to actually take a vote on it in an outward, outward way. And the question is whether or not you’re seeing cracks in the Republican, you know, unity that Trump has enforced pretty successfully through his first year of the second term. And he has he’s following the same playbook, which is intimidation and, you know, enforcement of loyalty by making threats about elections. If a senator disagrees with him, if a Republican disagrees with him, his his response is vengeance. I’m going to take you out. I’m going to eliminate you from office. And he has in the past shown the ability to do it. That’s one of the reasons why he has been so successful at enforcing solidarity among his party, in a way I’ve never seen any modern president do, because in fact, the people who did stand up to him in his own party in the past did end up losing office in time after time. So the question is whether that continues and whether or not he has that power to enforce loyalty, or whether this is the beginning of, of of a situation where Republicans begin to think, well, maybe we actually can express the feelings that we actually have that may be different than the president’s."