Senate Republicans began the week giving a closed-door standing ovation to Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, whom President Trump had just vanquished in a primary as retribution for voting to convict Mr. Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.<\/p>\n
They finished it by making a sharp break with the president, rebelling against his plan to use federal money to pay people who claim to have been victimized by the government, potentially including the rioters who assaulted their workplace on that violent day more than five years ago.<\/p>\n
The G.O.P. senators\u2019 resistance to a president they have rarely challenged and frequently excused reflected how the legacy of the Jan. 6 attack by a pro-Trump mob still hangs over the party. And it showed the limits of the uneasy political truce that many Republicans reached with Mr. Trump after the deadliest assault on Congress in American history.<\/p>\n
In cheering Mr. Cassidy, who was defeated by a Trump-backed challenger in his Senate primary, Republicans were rallying around a senator who did what most of them had been unwilling to at Mr. Trump\u2019s second impeachment trial.<\/p>\n
In the immediate aftermath of the riot, many Republicans who had feared for their safety on that day blamed Mr. Trump for the violence. But as it became clear that the president\u2019s dominance over their party would not fade, most reversed course and fell in line behind him, forgoing a chance to disqualify him from holding office again.<\/p>\n
In the time since, Republicans in Congress, often including Mr. Cassidy, have tolerated and even defended a host of extreme and norm-breaking actions by Mr. Trump. That only appeared to change this week, as Republican senators came to terms with a growing sense that the president\u2019s campaign to use his power to settle personal grievances had become a major political liability, consuming their agenda and imperiling their chances of holding the party\u2019s majorities in Congress.<\/p>\n
Mr. Cassidy, unburdened by a thorny political dynamic, was among the first to express outrage this week at the idea of compensating Mr. Trump\u2019s aggrieved loyalists.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are concerned about paying their mortgage or rent, affording groceries and paying for gas, not about putting together a $1.8 billion fund for the President and his allies to pay whomever they wish with no legal precedent or accountability,\u201d he wrote on social media.<\/p>\n
At the Capitol, he did not hold back in expressing dissent that he had apparently held at bay while courting the president\u2019s favor.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way our Constitution is set up, Congress should hold the executive branch accountable,\u201d Mr. Cassidy said. He added: \u201cWe are a nation of laws. You can\u2019t just make up things whole piece.\u201d<\/p>\n
His comments set the tone for a day of spectacular chaos on Thursday, when Republicans erupted behind closed doors at Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, over the president\u2019s fund. Their anger and the White House\u2019s failure to quell it forced Republican leaders to abruptly postpone a bill to fund Mr. Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown.<\/p>\n
By then it had become clear that Republicans were infuriated at the thought of giving federal funds to rioters who sent them fleeing for their lives on Jan. 6, and who assaulted the law enforcement officers sworn to protect them.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the nation\u2019s top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops?\u201d Senator Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican and former majority leader, said in a statement. \u201cUtterly stupid, morally wrong \u2014 take your pick.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a stark judgment from Mr. McConnell, who despite privately telling associates<\/a> that he believed Mr. Trump\u2019s actions on Jan. 6 were impeachable offenses and publicly declaring them reprehensible, still orchestrated and voted for his acquittal.<\/p>\n Later, Mr. McConnell thwarted the creation of an independent inquiry into the Capitol attack, telling Republicans privately<\/a> that it could hurt the party going into the 2022 midterm elections.<\/p>\n Now, with Republicans again staring down a difficult midterm battle, the calculation looks different. Republicans fear that Mr. Trump\u2019s focus on personal retribution could harm them politically, and they appear more willing to question him.<\/p>\n Such bursts of dissent in the G.O.P. have been fleeting, and some Democrats \u2014 gleeful as they watched the disarray \u2014 wondered aloud how long the indignation would last.<\/p>\n \u201cIs it possible on May 21, 2026, that Republicans finally found an ethical bridge too far?\u201d said Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat. \u201cI wonder.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, there were signs that Mr. Trump may have trouble corralling Republicans to do his bidding in the coming months.<\/p>\n Many G.O.P. senators were livid on Tuesday when Mr. Trump endorsed a challenger to Senator John Cornyn of Texas, a 24-year veteran with enough support among his colleagues that he narrowly lost an election for majority leader in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n