Wednesday, June 24, 2026
Vol. VIII
Est. 2019

The Mind Shield

News · Opinion · Politics · Analysis

Republican senators reverse course on Iran after getting yelled at by Trump.

Republican senators reverse course on Iran after getting yelled at by Trump.
Donald Trump. Photo: Evan Vucci/AP

The Republican-controlled Senate voted to reverse course on Wednesday after issuing a rare rebuke of Trump a day earlier.

On a 50-48 vote Tuesday, the Republican-controlled Senate passed a resolution directing Trump to remove U.S. armed forces from hostilities with Iran, unless Congress votes to declare war or authorizes the use of military force against Iran. GOP Sens. Rand Paul, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Bill Cassidy joined Democrats in voting for the resolution, while Democratic Sen. John Fetterman (Penn.) voted against it.

Trump publicly vented about the war powers vote, arguing it undermined his efforts to negotiate with Iran. He also voiced his opposition to the vote in a private lunch with Senate Republicans on Wednesday, leading to a shouting match with Cassidy over the president’s handling of the Iran war.

Late Wednesday, the measure was brought back to the Senate floor, and this time it failed on a 50 to 47 vote. Sens. Collins and Murkowski sided with Democrats to advance the resolution; Fetterman was the lone Democrat to oppose it. Paul voted “present,” and Cassidy flipped his vote to oppose the measure.

Cassidy claimed he changed his vote after a meeting with Vice President JD Vance and Steve Witkoff, the president’s special envoy, at the White House.

“I was going to vote yes, but I had a briefing this evening, and it was complete,” he said, adding, “I am reassured.”

Paul claimed he voted ‘present’ because he wants to “give the President more space and leverage to negotiate a lasting peace.”

“My opinion on the debate over war and executive power has not changed and I have voted that way several times,” he wrote in a post on Twitter. “But since hostilities seem to be over and the President asked me to give consideration to his negotiating position, I will do so.”

Trump celebrated the vote, thanking Republican leaders in a social media post claiming that the new vote “puts Iran on notice.”