Trump was so angry about one vote he threatened a GOP senator’s re-election, then realized she doesn’t have an opponent

President Donald Trump personally called five Republican senators to criticize them for supporting a war‑powers resolution. The resolution was a symbolic pushback against his administration’s actions in Venezuela, where Trump ordered a surprise military operation that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. Congressional and White House officials confirmed the calls happened.

Trump called Senators Rand Paul from Kentucky, Susan Collins from Maine, Josh Hawley from Missouri, Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, and Todd Young from Indiana. In some of these calls, he told the senators they were voting against the military, according to two officials, framing their support for the resolution as a threat to national security.

The Wall Street Journal states that he was also initially angry with Senator Steve Daines from Montana, who missed the vote. Trump cooled off after Daines explained he was celebrating his anniversary and would vote with Trump next week. A White House official said Daines and the president are close allies, and that Trump’s frustration was partly about loyalty as much as policy.

The vote was symbolic but Trump took it personally

The Senate vote to advance the war‑powers resolution, 52‑47, marked a rare moment of bipartisan concern over executive military actions without congressional approval. Some Republicans who backed the measure argued Congress should have a say before the U.S. engages further in Venezuela, highlighting a growing rift within the party over foreign policy and presidential authority.

The president knew the vote wouldn’t actually change any policy or reduce his power. But he called the senators anyway because he saw their votes as a personal attack against him. He also believed they were voting against the military operation, which he considers a major success, and against the service members who carried it out. The operation involved seizing millions of oil barrels from Venezuela as part of his broader foreign policy strategy.

During one of the calls, Trump later posted on Truth Social about the senators who backed the resolution, writing, “Republicans should be ashamed of the Senators that just voted with Democrats in attempting to take away our Powers to fight and defend the United States of America. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young should never be elected to office again.”

Susan Collins received a particularly angry call from Trump. He expressed frustration with her vote and complained she never did anything for him, according to someone familiar with the conversation. Trump said supporting his Venezuela efforts was important for the country.

At one point during the call, he was so angry he threatened to support Collins’s opponent in her re-election race. This confrontational approach reflects Trump’s recent pattern of withdrawing from international organizations and taking aggressive stances on foreign policy matters.

But Collins doesn’t have a Republican opponent. Only Democratic Governor Janet Mills and Democrat Graham Platner, an oyster farmer, have announced plans to run against her. The filing deadline is March 15.

When reporters told Collins about Trump’s social media post, she responded dryly that Trump “obviously is unhappy with the vote.” She added, “I guess this means that he would prefer to have Gov. Mills or somebody else.” Collins is the only one of the five senators facing re-election next year and is considered the most vulnerable GOP senator. She’s running in Maine, a state Kamala Harris won by about 7 percentage points in 2024.