The Senate Turns Away: The Moment Donald Trump’s Power Began to Collapse

WASHINGTON — The vote in the United States Senate in mid-January 2026 was not merely a legislative defeat for President Donald Trump. For many lawmakers, constitutional scholars, and even senior Republicans, it marked the moment when presidential authority itself began to fracture — and possibly the opening chapter of the end of Trump’s presidency.

By a 52–48 margin, the Senate rejected President Trump’s $5 billion emergency funding request for ongoing military operations in Venezuela — a campaign the White House had never formally authorized through Congress. What made the moment extraordinary was not only the outcome, but how it unfolded: twelve Republican senators stood up and walked out of the chamber, refusing to participate in the vote and ensuring the president’s defeat.

In Washington, the gesture carried profound symbolic weight — and was virtually unprecedented for a sitting president seeking military funding from his own party.

A Constitutional Rejection

The senators who led the walkout — including Sen. Tom Tillis of North Carolina and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — are not fringe figures within the Republican Party. They are veteran lawmakers, long viewed as institutional conservatives, who have repeatedly defended Congress’s constitutional authority over war powers and federal spending.

In statements following the vote, they cited three primary concerns: the unauthorized nature of the Venezuela operation, the deaths of at least 12 civilians, and the president’s overreach of constitutional authority by conducting military action without congressional approval.

“This is not a partisan dispute,” said one senior Senate aide. “This is about whether Congress still retains its constitutional power to authorize war and control the purse.”

A President Isolated on All Fronts

The vote occurred amid an extraordinary convergence of crises. Days earlier, the House of Representatives had passed articles of impeachment against Donald Trump by a 232–197 vote, accusing him of abuse of power and threats to democratic governance — a proceeding held inside a Capitol building that had itself recently been the site of a pro-Trump mob attack that left five people dead.

At the same time, according to reporting by Axios and Politico, Vice President J.D. Vance was quietly seeking cabinet support to invoke the 25th Amendment, a move that would be without modern precedent for a sitting, empowered president.

Federal courts were simultaneously blocking several of Trump’s emergency directives, while the president faced court-ordered sworn testimony related to the Venezuela operation.

“No pillar of authority is holding,” said a former national security official. “The executive branch is under scrutiny, Congress is in revolt, the judiciary is intervening, the cabinet is wavering, and his own party is splintering.”

A Public Fracture Inside the Republican Party

Trump’s response on Truth Social — branding the senators who walked out as “RINO traitors” and threatening to primary them in the 2026 midterms — appeared to deepen the damage rather than contain it.

Republican strategists now fear that Trump’s attacks on mainstream conservatives could fracture the party’s electoral coalition, particularly in swing states, opening opportunities for Democrats.

“This is no longer Trump versus Democrats,” a political analyst said on MSNBC. “It’s Trump versus the institutional core of his own party.”

The Public Turns Away

A Gallup poll released January 11 showed Trump’s approval rating falling to 41 percent, the lowest level of his current term. The steepest declines came among independent voters and moderate Republicans — groups once central to his electoral success.

The Venezuela operation, described by the White House as essential to regional stability, is increasingly viewed by voters as an uncontrolled military venture, lacking transparency, congressional oversight, and a clear exit strategy.

A Turning Point Moment

Democrats have compared the episode to January 6, labeling it “Insurrection 2.0” — not through mob violence, but through what they describe as systematic expansion of executive power beyond constitutional limits.

The difference this time, they argue, is that Congress acted decisively.

“When senators physically stand up and walk out,” said a Georgetown constitutional law professor, “that’s the moment presidential power meets its final boundary.”

What Comes Next

No outcome is guaranteed. But the signs are converging: impeachment proceedings, 25th Amendment discussions, adverse court rulings, party fragmentation, and declining public trust.

What once seemed unthinkable — a president abandoned by his own party and facing potential removal — is now openly discussed in Washington as a plausible scenario.

And when history looks back, many believe the silent walkout of twelve Republican senators in January 2026 will be remembered as the moment Donald Trump’s political power truly began to collapse.