What to Know
President Donald Trump has not been known to take it well when Republicans go against him in any way. After Marjorie Taylor Greene broke from the president on multiple issues and he called her a “traitor,” she said other Republicans were likely “terrified” of challenging him because they didn’t want to “get a nasty Truth Social post on them.” And a recent Senate vote in which five Republicans broke from Trump seemed to confirm that this is exactly what happens.
Five GOP senators voted in support of a resolution that would require Trump to get approval from Congress before taking military action in Venezuela. And in addition to lashing out at them on social media, Trump reportedly called Senator Susan Collins “out of the blue” to rant about her decision.
After the vote, Trump took to Truth Social.
Five GOP senators, including Collins, voted to advance a resolution on the War Powers Act. The others who supported it were Rand Paul, Lisa Murkowski, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young. Afterwards, Trump took to social media, named names, and said all of them should be “ashamed” of what they did.
“Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young should never be elected to office again,” Trump wrote. “This Vote greatly hampers American Self Defense and National Security, impeding the President’s Authority as Commander in Chief. In any event, and despite their ‘stupidity,’ the War Powers Act is Unconstitutional, totally violating Article II of the Constitution, as all Presidents, and their Departments of Justice, have determined before me.”
Collins explained her stance in a statement.
In her statement, she made it clear that while she supported “the operation to seize Nicolas Maduro,” she does not “support committing additional U.S. forces or entering into any long-term military involvement in Venezuela or Greenland without specific congressional authorization.”
Elsewhere in the statement, she said, “I believe invoking the War Powers Act at this moment is necessary, given the President’s comments about the possibility of ‘boots on the ground’ and a sustained engagement ‘running’ Venezuela, with which I do not agree.”
My statement on the Venezuela War Powers Resolution: pic.twitter.com/3Un2jCwhNe
— Sen. Susan Collins (@SenatorCollins) January 8, 2026
Clearly, Trump was not happy with her.
Because in addition to asserting that she should never be elected again, he allegedly gave her a “profanity-laced” phone call, according to The Hill. The publication said two sources familiar with the situation claimed that Trump was “fuming” and went off on a “profanity-laced rant” when speaking to the senator.
“He was very mad about the vote,” one of the sources told the news outlet. “Very mad. Very hot.” A spokesperson for Collins confirmed that the president did indeed speak to her on the phone, but they declined to say more about the nature of the call.
